Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  University of Pittsburgh

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Polyploidy is a fascinating phenomenon that occurs in many species but is especially common in plants. Polyploidy occurs when an organism ends up with more than the “normal” number of chromosomes, or DNA, in their cells. It can arise naturally, through an error when cells are duplicating, or it can be caused by humans through the application of chemicals that induce these cell division errors. I study the ecological implications of polyploidy in plants. Polyploid plants are often larger than “normal” diploid plants (or those with the normal amount of chromosomes/DNA), simply because they have more genetic material in their cells. Additionally, polyploid plants may be more tolerant to environmental stress, like drought or disease. Thus, they may have unique traits that allow them to thrive in certain habitats that non-polyploid plants cannot thrive in. For example, farmers and agricultural scientists often plant polyploid crops because some are hardier or more robust. I am currently doing some experiments comparing polyploid plants to diploid plants to test exactly how much more resilient they are to stressors such as heat and pollution. Hopefully, the results from my work can help restore degraded or polluted ecosystems. By studying polyploidy in plants, I can help us gain a better understanding of how organisms adapt to their environment, and how plants may be impacted by factors like climate change or urbanization.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  One of my current favorite plants is duckweed! I study duckweed for my PhD research. Duckweed is a flowering, aquatic plant that floats on the surface of freshwater lakes and ponds. They are the world's smallest flowering plant, and they are also one of the fastest growing plants! They reproduce mostly asexually by making clones of themselves. They are also a really useful biofuel and there's lots of new, exciting research on how we can use duckweed for a more sustainable future!

  
  
• Profile Question 2

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

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

  Almost all of the cool places I've travelled to so far have been from opportunities through my career as a scientist! In college, I got to intern in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington) to study prairies and I also got to spend 3 months interning in northeastern Iceland studying midges (tiny flies)! Now that I am a graduate student, I get to go to scientific conferences where I meet the leading scientists in my field, and they are often held in really cool places (So far, I've been to conferences in Alaska, Florida, Kentucky, etc.). I also got to go to a workshop this summer in Switzerland! And everywhere I go, I get to study cool plants and talk science!

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  (not set)

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

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• How did you hear about PlantingScience?

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• In addition to English, I am comfortable communicating with students in the following languages:

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

Team MIWI Hannah Assour Nov 27, 2023

Hi Henry, thanks for the summary of the methods.

What kind of results did you expect to see, and did your hypothesis hold up? 

Why do you think you blew breath into the cup? What about the breath may have caused a change in the flotation…

more

Hi Henry, thanks for the summary of the methods.

What kind of results did you expect to see, and did your hypothesis hold up? 

Why do you think you blew breath into the cup? What about the breath may have caused a change in the flotation of the plants?

And what major takeaways did you learn from this?

Hypebeast x Country Bumpkin Fanclub Hannah Assour Nov 27, 2023

Hi Charlianne -- nice description of your methods! and nice conclusion that carbon dioxide helps speed up photosynthesis!
Can you explain why that might be? and what kind of implications do you think this has for plants in the natural world?

GOG Hannah Assour Nov 27, 2023

Awesome job team!! Why do you think the baking soda leaf discs and breath cup rose up? What compound may have caused this? And what do you think this might mean for the "real world"?