Profile

• Telephone

  1-513-887-9360

  
  
• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Gender

  Male

  
  
• Organization

  Miami University

  
  
• Employment Status

  Retired / Unemployed

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  My research focuses on the effects of environmental factors on the development of root systems and stress-induced programed cell death in plants.
  
  Recently my collaborators and I have been experimenting with using computers to produce virtual 3D reconstructions of root tip structure from microscope slides.

  
  
• Do you have previous experience in mentorship or educational outreach? Please list here (200 words)

  I have been an advisor of college botany majors at the undergraduate and graduate level for 29 yr. I have participated in Planting Science since 2008. I created a children's anti-plant blindness outreach program for the entire Hamilton Ohio City School district involving in classroom activities and field trips to the Miami University Conservatory that ran for a decade and served ca. 8000 children.

  
  
• Which of the following best describes your career stage?

  Emeritus/Retired

  
  
• 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):

  As an undergraduate I had a lab job assisting a doctoral student who needed to isolate DNA from the root apical meristems of pea plants. We did not have polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to amplify small amounts of DNA in those days, so he needed very large numbers of root tips to get sufficient DNA for an experiment. Based on my classwork and some experiments some other students in our lab had done, I thought I could use elevated temperature to significantly increase the number of cells in these meristems, and therefore reduce the number of root tips we would need to collect to get enough meristem DNA. The experiment was pretty much a failure with respect to its hypothesis and objective, but it serenipitously revealed a lot of surprising effects that elevated temperature had on the development of pea roots. This ultimately led to my own doctoral dissertation research project and subsequent life's work.

  
  
• 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):

  When I was contemplating going back to college after 18 yr in other occupations, I discovered it was not necessarily required that one live and work in a city to do science. I wanted my children to grow up in a non-urban environment, so I decided to study agronomy and botany.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  Being able to make a living discovering new things about the world and sharing those discoveries with colleagues and students.

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

  Botanical Society of America
  Japanese Society of Plant Physiologists

  
  
• How did you hear about PlantingScience?

  Partner Organization E-mail

  
  
• Preferred Student Level(s)

  Middle School Students (Grades 6,7,8)
  High School Students (Grades 9,10,11,12)
  Undergraduate Students

  
  
• Preferred Investigation Themes

  The Wonder of Seeds (seed germination and growth)
  The Power of Sunlight (photosynthesis and respiration)
  What about Pollen? (pollen and pollination)
  Celery Challenge (plant anatomy, osmosis and diffusion)
  C-Fern in the Open (sexual reproduction, alternation of generations)
  Agronomy Feeds the World (where does food come from?)

  
  
• Challenge, ELL, Honors

  Academically Challenged
  ELL - English language learners
  Honors or AP - Advanced Placement

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

  None of the Above

  
  
• Videoconference Ability

  Yes

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

  3

  
  

Recent Posts

Crocs Daniel K. Gladish Oct 2 at 09:18pm

Dear Crocs:

Did you do your experiment today?  If so, I did not expect you to post results immediately today.  I hope everything went well.  Let me know, please.

It has no effect on the validity of your experiment, but those are…

more

Dear Crocs:

Did you do your experiment today?  If so, I did not expect you to post results immediately today.  I hope everything went well.  Let me know, please.

It has no effect on the validity of your experiment, but those are not tomato leaves in the photo you sent me (image_67174401).  The leaves in your photo are "simple" leaves.  Tomato plants have "compound" leaves with irregular leaflets.  I uploaded a picture I took from one of my tomato plants with one of its fruits and a stock picture I copied from the Internet.  Again, what the species is should have no effect on the validity of your experiment as long as all the disks come from the same species (better still if the leaves are from the same individual plant).  On the other hand, it is traditional in science to indicate the species that was used in an experiment.  See if Ms. Oliva can tell you where the leaves came from.  I don't recognize the species.

Sincerely, Dr. Dan

Crocs Daniel K. Gladish Oct 1 at 01:10pm

Dear Otba:

Thanks for sending the photos.

Does the beaker labeled water have dish soap in it?  (You said it would.)

I'm curious.  What species of plant are the leaves from?

 

Dr. Dan

24fwengerbmhspos project 6 Daniel K. Gladish Sep 30 at 09:30am

Hello!

My name is Dr. Dan Gladish.  I was a botany professor at Miami University in Hamilton and Oxford, Ohio; I recently retired after 29 yr working there.  Science professors teach college students about their science discipline and…

more

Hello!

My name is Dr. Dan Gladish.  I was a botany professor at Miami University in Hamilton and Oxford, Ohio; I recently retired after 29 yr working there.  Science professors teach college students about their science discipline and do scientific research in their fields, but I also like to do science with anyone who is curious; anyone who likes to test and explore things.  That is why I signed on to be your mentor.

I’ve spent a lot of time testing how different environmental stresses affect the development of plant root systems.  But I am fully versed in how photosynthesis works.  What are you planning to test?  Please tell me about your project plans as soon as possible so I can help you with your experiment ideas.  One thing worth keeping in mind is that the simpler you make an experiment the easier it is to figure out what's going on and what the results are.

FYI, like many scientists, I have interests in the humanities and the arts too.  I love history, especially history of science, but I have been a musician since 4th grade.  I was a trained symphonic musician who played violin, cello, and contrabass, and then I used the bass to become a folk singer, and later a full-time professional rock&roll musician.  We recorded four albums.  Then I decided to go to college to learn science.  When I became a professional scientist I had to reduce my time committed to music, but I still play original music with a group of talented friends.

Best wishes, Dr. Dan Gladish