Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Syngenta

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I have a PhD in the area of microbial biochemistry, but switched over to plants about 9 years ago. I have experience with biofuels, abiotic stress (especially drought), and general breeding for improved crop yields.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

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

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

  In a sugarcane trial in Florida, we all had walkie-talkies (it was our first trial of sugarcane). Everybody kept quoting lines from the Big Lebowski. So watching that became "training" material for field work.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  I love learning new things, bottom line. Also, I appreciate every day just being trained to think critically. You don't realize early on how valuable that is. It's not the facts you memorize that makes a good scientist, it's knowing how to critically evaluate and study a topic.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is tough about being a scientist?

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

  Explaining science to non-scientists. Most scientists will rarely speak in absolutes, because new details are always emerging. We say things like "Well, the data suggest" or "there is a strong correlation between". It's difficult to project confidence about a "fact", while also maintaining an open mind.

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

  American Society of Plant Biologists

  
  
• 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

bchsoreillyfall2017 project 3 Jason David Nichols Dec 11, 2017

Hi Anna - sounds good. What's the hypothesis you are testing? Is this just looking at germination, or are the plants already grown and you're looking at how they respond to the different concentrations of salt? 

How's the…

more

Hi Anna - sounds good. What's the hypothesis you are testing? Is this just looking at germination, or are the plants already grown and you're looking at how they respond to the different concentrations of salt? 

How's the experiment going and how long will you be running it?

bchsoreillyfall2017 project 3 Jason David Nichols Nov 27, 2017

Hi all - how is the experimental design/setup going? 

bchsoreillyfall2017 project 3 Jason David Nichols Nov 6, 2017

Hi Anna - apologies that I didn't respond sooner (I was on vacation last week and didn't access my email!). I think this is a neat idea (I think you meant photosynthesis rather than cellular respiration though). Have you developed this idea…

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Hi Anna - apologies that I didn't respond sooner (I was on vacation last week and didn't access my email!). I think this is a neat idea (I think you meant photosynthesis rather than cellular respiration though). Have you developed this idea further over the last week? One question I would focus on first is what is the observation you'll need to make in order to prove or disprove your hypothesis? And what are some factors that could influence your experiment, and that you'll have to control for? 

Please do share your experimental design when you've a chance.