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

Geral Stephen Stern Nov 16, 2022

Testing how moisture affects the plants sounds great. Could you give some specifics on how you are setting up the experiment? What type of plants? What does the setup (soil, pots) look like? Are you going to water the plants or just use different…

more

Testing how moisture affects the plants sounds great. Could you give some specifics on how you are setting up the experiment? What type of plants? What does the setup (soil, pots) look like? Are you going to water the plants or just use different humidities?

The Worm Cult Stephen Stern Nov 8, 2022

Sounds like your experiment is up and running! How many plants do you have in each of the treatments (the water versus worm pee)? Which species did you end up using? If you have a chance, it would be great to update your experimental design above.

The Worm Cult Stephen Stern Oct 18, 2022

Nice to meet you all!

I think that you could use either Pea Plants or Millet in the experiment (or if you have space you could try both to see if they give the same results)!

I look forward to hearing more about the design of your project.…

more

Nice to meet you all!

I think that you could use either Pea Plants or Millet in the experiment (or if you have space you could try both to see if they give the same results)!

I look forward to hearing more about the design of your project. What liquids are you planning on using (and what is "worm pee" that you mention above)?

I study the plant genus Solanum which includes tomatoes, potatoes and eggplants so those are among my favorites to work with and to eat. Most of my research with these plants at the University of Utah was with wild relatives of these crops, including a few new species that I got to name!