Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  University of Missouri - St. Louis

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I'm interested in understanding how species are defined and evolve. I am also interested in how effects like pollination and geography influence evolution and diversity in plants.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

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

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

  The first science experiment I designed was trying to figure out in invasive cane toad tadpoles were susceptible to volcanic ash in their water. I picked the question because cane toads are invasive on the Caribbean island Montserrat, which had substantial ashfall during a series of volcanic eruptions in the 90s. I did not find any evidence that the tadpoles were affected by ash, but I did discover that they are cannibals! Even with other food available, the tadpoles would often scavenge their fallen brethren. It turned out this behavior was not uncommon in tadpoles, but had not been reported in cane toads. It was a good lesson for me that you can still learn something exciting even if your experiment doesn't yield significant results.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

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

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

  I've always known I wanted to be a scientist. As a kid, I told people I wanted to be a zoologist (at the time I thought plants were boring). I've always wanted to go into science because I loved learning, especially about the world around me. As a kid, I also just loved living things and wanted to work with them. As I got older, I also became excited by the idea of getting to contribute to our collective knowledge and to the process of discovery. Finally, in college I was introduced to botanical field research and working with natural history collections. I had such a great experience that I knew I wanted to pursue research in botany.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

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

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

  The coolest thing about plants is just how diverse they are! Before I learned about plants, they all just looked the same, but as I got to know more about the plant communities around me I was amazed at just how many different types of plants were all around me. You can go look at a lawn and find flowers of all different shapes, colors, and sizes. Even the grass itself might be several different species. That diversity is also shaped by so many forces from interactions with pollinators to habitat to random chance. There are hundreds of thousands of known species of plants, and yet we still finds hundreds if not thousands of new species every year!

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

  2