Profile

• Time Zone

  Mountain

  
  
• Organization

  Colorado Mesa University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am a plant systematist, meaning I study the identification, description, and classification of plants and study their evolutionary relationships. I work on the plant genus Solanum that contains economically important species like the potato, tomato, and eggplant.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  The best thing about being a scientist is getting to indulge your curiosity. As a biologist, I am curious about the world around me and as a scientist I get to try to figure out the "how's" and "why's" of nature.

  
  
• 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 decided to become a scientist because I love to be outside biking and hiking and skiing. During these activities I became interested in better understanding the world around me. If I saw a cool flower I wanted to learn the name of it so I could tell other people about it.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  Can you share a funny/interesting lab or field story?

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

  On my first plant collecting trip we were in a dugout canoe going down a river to spend 6 weeks in a remote rainforest. On our second day down the river our boat, which was loaded down with all of our gear for the next weeks, sank! I had to frantically swim and try to gather all the gear I could. In the end, we only lost a bit of our food (although we missed it at the end of the trip when we were very, very hungry) and were able to keep going.

  
  
• How did you hear about PlantingScience?

  (not set)

  
  
• 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

loscashmanwosspring2024 project 9 Stephen Stern Feb 22 at 03:19pm

Hi Group! I am looking forward to working with you all and hearing about your research question and how you are designing an experiment to answer that question. It sounds like you are getting started so let me know as soon as you can what you are…

more

Hi Group! I am looking forward to working with you all and hearing about your research question and how you are designing an experiment to answer that question. It sounds like you are getting started so let me know as soon as you can what you are thinking!

nhspandaposfall2023 project 7 Stephen Stern Oct 10, 2023

Hi folks,

Just checking in to see how your project is going. I would love to hear about your research question, how you designed your project, and how things are going. I also want to echo taking a look at the "star projects"-there is…

more

Hi folks,

Just checking in to see how your project is going. I would love to hear about your research question, how you designed your project, and how things are going. I also want to echo taking a look at the "star projects"-there is some great information in there!

nhspandaposfall2023 project 3 Stephen Stern Oct 10, 2023

Hi folks,

Just checking in to see how your project is going. I would love to hear about your research question, how you designed your project, and how things are going. I also want to echo taking a look at the "star projects"-there is…

more

Hi folks,

Just checking in to see how your project is going. I would love to hear about your research question, how you designed your project, and how things are going. I also want to echo taking a look at the "star projects"-there is some great information in there!