Profile

• Time Zone

  Mountain

  
  
• Organization

  New Mexico State University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Pollen-pistil interactions in the Brassicaceae. I am interested in how the female plant of a flower is able to accept or reject the male pollen grains. I look at this in the mustard family of plants (Brassicaceae) and work with Canola (Brassica species) and Arabidopsis.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is a typical day like for you?

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

  I wake up early in the morning and either ride my bike or go to the gym. I then come into the office, have some coffee and deal with the morning emails. I spend most of the morning and early afternoon working in the lab with my students. I teach in the afternoon. Between 5-6, I cycle home, eat dinner, work on teaching related things e.g. marking, lecture notes. Then I relax by reading or watching TV.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is tough about being a scientist?

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

  There are two parts that I find tough in regards to science; 1.) you have to get used to failure as sometimes your experiments won't always work or give you unexpected results and 2.) learning to deal with rejection (papers will need more experiments or revisions), criticism (in regards to improving your science). To be successful you have to deal with these things positively.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

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

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

  I decided that I wanted to be a molecular biologist when I was 12. I started working in a molecular biology lab when I was 19 during my undergrad and I have been doing this ever since then. I got interested in molecular biology as a result of science olympiad in middle school as I participated in the biology event at the time and I just knew that I wanted to do molecular biology.

  
  
• How did you hear about PlantingScience?

  (not set)

  
  
• 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?

  1

  
  

Recent Posts

Team 6a 5 Emily Indriolo Apr 1, 2020

Hi Max, it is nice to meet you!  I like to draw comics/tv related artwork.  Right now, I'm really into drawing artwork from Torchwood and the manga Golden Kamuy.

Have you been able to start on your own plant biology experiments yet?

… more

Hi Max, it is nice to meet you!  I like to draw comics/tv related artwork.  Right now, I'm really into drawing artwork from Torchwood and the manga Golden Kamuy.

Have you been able to start on your own plant biology experiments yet?

Regards,

Emily

Team 6a 5 Emily Indriolo Mar 23, 2020

Hello Julian,

I see you are starting an experiment.   Let's take a step back and think about the scientific process.  You are going to watch seeds germinate and develop, but before that let's determine what your question is…

more

Hello Julian,

I see you are starting an experiment.   Let's take a step back and think about the scientific process.  You are going to watch seeds germinate and develop, but before that let's determine what your question is so that you can form a hypothesis.

You said you put 4 bean seeds in water.  Why? How much water?  Do you have a control?  What is/are your experimental conditions.  Let's step back and start to design and experiment before doing the experiment.

Additionally, as you have learned about germination in class - what happens?  Do seeds actually get larger or do they do something else?  What is the first part of the seedling to emerge from the seed?

Please get back to me with more information, we can make a really cool experiment!

Regards,

Emily

Team 6a 5 Emily Indriolo Mar 23, 2020

Hello Leia, 

First off, I'll admit that I'm not really interested in seeds as a plant biologist and I'm much more interested in flowers and how flowers choose pollen. 

Let's take a step back and look at your…

more

Hello Leia, 

First off, I'll admit that I'm not really interested in seeds as a plant biologist and I'm much more interested in flowers and how flowers choose pollen. 

Let's take a step back and look at your question.  You want to determine what are the best conditions for seeds correct?  So first off, you need to think about what seeds do - they germinate in the springtime.  Therefore, you are wondering what other factors are important to seeds.  You mention sunlight, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. 

Why do you list these three things?  And when you plant seeds in your garden or in a pot, are they exposed to the sun?  Would the carbon dioxide and oxygen be any different anywhere on earth?

Let me know what you are thinking so we can design a great experiment.

Regards,

Emily