Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Mars Hill University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Plant-insect interactions, ecology, pollination, herbivory, and teaching.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What was the first science experiment you ever designed? How did it turn out?

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

  When I was in elementary school, my mom showed me how to sprout avocado pits. I immediately wanted to make them grow better, so I ran an experiment with avocado pits in regular water and some in MiracleGro, thinking the ones in fertilizer might do better. They didn't - they rotted and started getting moldy instead! But at least I knew to always grow avocados in regular water from then on.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  Do you have advice for students about preparing for a science career?

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

  Be curious and ask questions about everything. Don't be afraid to run experiments (even small ones) in your spare time. Talk to scientists about what their job is like and how they got their job. Take science classes with a hands-on component.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

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

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

  I feel like this is a question that has an answer that is always changing. But right now, the coolest thing I have learned about plants recently is that there is a pitcher plant that gets a significant portion of its nutrients and nitrogen from an animal pooping in it - it's a toilet plant!

  
  
• Availability

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

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

Leafy Legends Nicole L Soper Gorden Nov 14, 2022

They're getting so big already!  Wow!  

I see some graphs in the background of the image.  Will you be graphing your plant height results as part of the project?  I would love to see some of your data at some point -…

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They're getting so big already!  Wow!  

I see some graphs in the background of the image.  Will you be graphing your plant height results as part of the project?  I would love to see some of your data at some point - graphed or otherwise (averages per treatment, maybe).  In thin interpreting the results is one of the more exciting parts of an experiment, since that's when you find out what actually happened and whether it matches your hypothesis or not!

Goofy Farmers Nicole L Soper Gorden Nov 14, 2022

Your plants were stolen??  Oh man, that's crazy.  I can't imagine who would want to steal radish seedlings.  I'm sorry your experiment was interrupted like that!  Will you have enough information from your one picture…

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Your plants were stolen??  Oh man, that's crazy.  I can't imagine who would want to steal radish seedlings.  I'm sorry your experiment was interrupted like that!  Will you have enough information from your one picture to be able to talk about some results?  I know they were still pretty small at the time...

This is, in some ways, good practice for doing science for real.  You never know what's going to happen when you run an experiment, and when things go wrong, you need to figure out how to still get something useful out of your hard work.  I had a friend who spent two years growing plants for an experiment only to have groundhogs come through and dig half of them up overnight!  She was still able to get some data from the experiment, but not what she had originally hoped for.  Thinking on your feet and being creative is definitely a skill for scientists!

It still sucks though.  Sorry, team - I'm sure that's not how you hoped y our experiment would end.  :(

Leafy Legends Nicole L Soper Gorden Nov 10, 2022

That's cool that you can see their roots - I don't usually grow plants in clear pots, but I can see how it would be really useful to be able to see what's happening in the soil, too!  It looks like one of the pots doesn't have a…

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That's cool that you can see their roots - I don't usually grow plants in clear pots, but I can see how it would be really useful to be able to see what's happening in the soil, too!  It looks like one of the pots doesn't have a seedling yet - is that true, or is it just hiding?

The purple stems are a neat observation!  Some plants can change the color of their stem depending on conditions.  Do you all have a hypothesis about why they might be purple?  I know it's not related to your original question, but asking new questions and making new hypotheses is part of the process of science!  :)