Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I have studied food web interactions, specifically the interactions of plants, animals, and fungi, with fungi being the main focus of my undergraduate and graduate research.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  I have 2.
  1. Plants take air and sunlight and make sugar. How cool is that?!?!
  2. Plants seem static because they're immobile, but they interact with so many things around them - insects, herbivores, fungi, other plants... The depth of connections in a forest is mind boggling.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  When and why did you decide to go into a science career?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  I liked science when I was in high school, but I was never super good at math. I ended up going to school to get a music degree. A year after I graduated, a friend commented that I should consider the Applied Biomolecular Science program she was in. I hated it - it was really hard to get back into school when I hadn't studied science or math for 5 years. Then one day in botany class I was daydreaming and when I looked up, the professor had a huge photo of a tree with buttress roots and was talking about their adaptation to thin soils. I was instantly hooked on plants. I learned how to study (school is much easier with study skills!) and I've been going forward ever since.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is best about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  I learn something new every single day! Sometimes it's a new way of figuring out an old problem, sometimes it's something new in science news, and sometimes it's something no one has ever tried before. But every day is different and every day I learn a little more about how the world works.

  
  
• Help represent the outreach efforts of your societies. Please click all those organizations you are a member of:

  (not set)

  
  
• Availability

  I am currently available for mentoring, please send me team match invitations

  
  
• In addition to English, I am comfortable communicating with students in the following languages:

  (not set)

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

24fwalterslcpspos project 3 Kate Sidlar Sep 14 at 01:06pm

Hi Team!  Welcome to Planting Science!

I'm excited to be your mentor for this project!  Please feel free to call me Kate.

For my master's degree I studied how small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks transport fungal spores…

more

Hi Team!  Welcome to Planting Science!

I'm excited to be your mentor for this project!  Please feel free to call me Kate.

For my master's degree I studied how small mammals like squirrels and chipmunks transport fungal spores from forests into clearcut areas.

I live in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, just a short walk from a beautiful lake in the bottom of a valley.  I am surrounded by nature and I love it!  I love doing all sorts of outdoor activities like biking and hiking.  I also love to cook and I play saxophone.

I would love to hear a little bit about each of you, and you are welcome to ask me any questions you have at all about plants or studying science or being a scientist.

Also start brainstorming ideas about your project!  You can post any ideas at all and we can work on them from there.

I'm looking forward to working with you!

Kate

Blossom Brigade project 13 Kate Sidlar Apr 26 at 06:26pm

Hi Team,

I'm so glad to hear that your plants are improving!  It sounds like they were nutrient-limited and now that they have more space and soil and nutrients they are doing better.  Awesome!

Do you have any questions…

more

Hi Team,

I'm so glad to hear that your plants are improving!  It sounds like they were nutrient-limited and now that they have more space and soil and nutrients they are doing better.  Awesome!

Do you have any questions about how it's going?  Are you seeing what you expected? Do you have any preliminary thoughts about which fertilizers make a difference?

Blossom Brigade project 13 Kate Sidlar Apr 23 at 08:13pm

Thanks for the pictures!

Have you taken any measurements that you can share? Are you surprised by what you're seeing?