Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Denison University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I STUDY HOW SCIENTISTS DISTINGUISH ONE SPECIES FROM ANOTHER using DNA fingerprinting. My current research is focused on a group of plants called grapeferns, which live through many parts of the United States and Canada. I even have a few that grow wild in my backyard.

  
  
• 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):

  I was always interested in science, but when my older sister brought home her textbook from her 9th grade biology class, I was hooked. I remember reading the chapter about genetics and being fascinated. I have never lost that fascination for the natural world - the more I learn the more I want to learn.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What was the first science experiment you ever designed? How did it turn out?

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

  I had an aquarium with tropical fish when I was in grade school and I raised fish called swordtails. I decided to do an experiment on the inheritance of color between a red bodied, black-finned male swordtail and a solid green female. The babies all looked like their father, so I knew that red body and black fins were a dominant trait. Once the babies grew up and had babies themselves, there were four colorations: red body with black fins, green body with black fins, red body with red fins, and green body with green fins. It wasn't until I took a college course that I understood that the body color and fin color were likely controlled by different genes and inherited independently of each other.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  The best thing about being a scientist is being able to use science knowledge in everyday life. I have a vegetable garden and I use basic principles of experimental design to learn better ways of raising fruits and vegetables. I use my knowledge of science to evaluate how reliable information online is, and I use my knowledge of science to better understand what doctors tell me. Science helps me ask better questions and be skeptical of claims that seem too good to be true. Science has helped me observe the natural world around me and learn through what I see.

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

  1