Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  University of Minnesota

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Plant conservation; plant ecophysiology; plant-soil interactions; plant ecology; plant community mapping; ecological restoration; plant systematics and botany; edible plants and food security; statistics

  
  
• Profile Question 1

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

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

  When I was in 1st grade, I made an art project for Columbus Day saying I wanted to be a "Scientist" when I grew up. So, I think I've always known. That said, when I was little I also wanted to be a famous actress one day! Seriously, though, in high school I really enjoyed my biology and math classes, and knew that I would be a biology major at college focusing on plant science. I particularly enjoy plant science because not only do they not bite back or move when you try to study them, but also because plants play such an important role globally, from feeding our growing human population to filtering pollutants from the air and water.

  
  
• 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):

  Take statistics! I have been able to work on so many different plant projects, have seen so many beautiful landscapes, and have had a rich research career thus far because of my strong statistics and math background. Statistics has opened doors for me that I would never have imagined! So, no matter what you end up doing in life, being competent in math and statistics will help!

  
  
• Profile Question 3

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

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

  I once tried to grow plants in macaroni and cheese for a science fair project when I was quite young. I thought to myself, "If we can grow by eating macaroni and cheese, then why can't plants?" This is an example in why it's very important to do some background research before you design an experiment. As you can imagine, all I ended up growing was mold. The plants didn't do so well! :-)

  
  
• Availability

  I am NOT available, please temporarily remove me from the available mentor list

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

ghshendersonfall2021 project 1 Althea ArchMiller Oct 15, 2021

How are the plants doing?? Any new observations?

ghshendersonfall2021 project 1 Althea ArchMiller Oct 6, 2021

For experimental design, you will want to record how many total plants you're growing and if there is any way to manipulate half of them to see if you can figure out something about their "environment" that causes them to…

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For experimental design, you will want to record how many total plants you're growing and if there is any way to manipulate half of them to see if you can figure out something about their "environment" that causes them to "look" different. Right now it seems as though you're trying to grow them all in the same environment and are already seeing variation in height, color, etc. 

In your research introduction, you mentioned how you think geography might affect variation. Are your plants all growing in the same soil right now? Maybe if you transplanted half of them in a different type of soil, you might see MORE variation? This would be one example of an experimental design that you could make predictions from. 

ghshendersonfall2021 project 1 Althea ArchMiller Oct 6, 2021

Great! Glad to hear that they're growing