Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Pennsylvania State University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Plant viruses, plant reproduction, genetics, plant diversity, plant evolution

  
  
• Profile Question 1

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

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

  Ever since I was little I wanted to be a scientist, although it took me up until undergrad of college to decide on a discipline and decide to pursue a career in science through the graduate school (Ph.D. track) path. It's never too late to go into science, and there are many ways to make it into a career!

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?

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

  Plants don't suffer from tissue rejection like animals! If they're related at the genus level, you can frankenstein together different plants and they do just fine (as long as their vascular tissue is aligned). Check out Sam Van Aken (an artist and professor at Syracuse University)'s trees that bear 40 different kinds of fruit.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  The fact that my job description is to seek, discover, and understand! I love having a job that lets me ask and pursue interesting biological questions: it satisfies my innate curiosity, and it's really gratifying to discover new things and contribute to humanity's knowledge bank.

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

  2