Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  Nurturing Wisdom Tutoring

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  When I did research at the Chicago Botanic Garden, I looked at how flower timing in early spring plants might affect what kinds of resources (e.g. sunlight, temperature, water, mates) would be available to them and how that might affect how many seeds they can produce and if those seeds would be able to grow.

  
  
• 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 my high school microbiology class, I've always been fascinated with the relationship between humans and our natural world. I think the cool thing about science is that you can zoom in pretty close and learn about something at a microscopic level and then take the same topic and learn about it from an ecosystem / macroscopic level. Working in science feels like I get to learn something new every day and build upon the knowledge that I've already gathered.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  I don't have a specific favorite plant, but generally I am drawn to plants that are able to withstand extreme environments (e.g. high temperatures, acidic/basic soils, etc) because they've learned to evolutionarily adapt to it. I try to incorporate this metaphor into my daily life.

  
  
• 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):

  Plants use a form of sunscreen, too, called anthocyanins which is why you sometimes see plants with bright red or deep purple colored leaves. These pigments are produced to help protect the plant from excess sunlight.

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

  (not set)

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

  (not set)

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

vsnhsfrazerwosspring2024 project 4 Samantha Danguilan Mar 27 at 11:41am

Good luck on the final steps of your write up / project! Science is all around us; remember to stay curious and never take information as law. We are constantly learning and expanding our knowledge of the world!

vsnhsfrazerwosspring2024 project 4 Samantha Danguilan Mar 27 at 11:36am

Some finishing ideas I want to leave you with:

• Light is an important resource for plant growth, but the role it plays may be different depending on what stage in life the plant is at. Adult plants capture light with their leaves to undergo…

more

Some finishing ideas I want to leave you with:

• Light is an important resource for plant growth, but the role it plays may be different depending on what stage in life the plant is at. Adult plants capture light with their leaves to undergo photosynthesis (how they make food), but seeds (baby plants) don't have leaves yet nor do they undergo photosynthesis. Light may still be important for germination, but as you saw with your results, wasn't the most necessary factor because seeds that were in complete darkness still germinated.
• You didn't see any patterns relating faster germination to increased light because the seeds in 1 hr treatment grew faster than the ones in the always-on treatment. This indicates that light may only be necessary as a cue to start breaking dormancy.
• Light may not be the only cue for seeds to break dormancy. Similar to driving a car, you don't necessarily need to see the light turn green to start going-- you have other cues like the other cars around you moving and people honking to let you know to start driving forward. What are other environmental cues that might tell a seed that it is OK to start germinating?
• Take into consideration that light gives off both brightness and heat (have you ever touched a light bulb that's been running? hot!). Perhaps it isn't always the brightness that matters to the seeds. After all, most of the time, they're buried under many inches/feet of soil.

vsnhsfrazerwosspring2024 project 4 Samantha Danguilan Mar 27 at 11:02am

Hi Team!

Just wanted to let you know that this link also did not work. I will look over what you have written in the project info. and give you feedback.