Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Yale University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am interested in forest restoration and better understanding how people use plants. I work with satellite images to detect how forests that experienced disturbances like agriculture, fire, and logging, are regrowing by measuring things like temperature and humidity. My study site is located in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. I also work with trees and look at how different species of trees contribute differently to the ecosystem by looking at various traits, such as where and how fast the trees grow. Lastly, as a student, I studied how trees affect cattle and how farmers use trees in cattle farms in Virginia, US, and Los Santos, Panama.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  My favorite plant is Podostemum ceratophyllum, better known as Hornleaf Riverweed. As an undergraduate, I had a professor explain how it is truly the strangest plant in North America, because it grows underwater attached to rocks only by modified stems. It has no leaves or roots! But it does flower, but only when it is exposed to air, which makes it very unique.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What lessons have you learned in your career about how science works?

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

  For me, one of the most important lessons in my career is making connections with other researchers! Science is very much a collaborative field and the more people you have on your team, with as much knowledge as possible, the better! You don’t have to be an expert in everything, but having friends and colleagues who know about things you are less familiar with can be an amazing tool to advance your science.

  
  
• 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 contribute to the collective understanding of how the world works, and seeing tangible results from your research that help make the world a better place! Also, depending on what you study, you can travel a lot and you always get to keep learning new things.

  
  
• 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

snugargposspring2024 project 3 Bela Starinchak Apr 1 at 09:31am

Hi all!

This sounds like an interesting experiment! Abdulkabir brought up some great points - it's important to consider how you will quantify your treatments because that helps you identify objective differences in your results. As for your…

more

Hi all!

This sounds like an interesting experiment! Abdulkabir brought up some great points - it's important to consider how you will quantify your treatments because that helps you identify objective differences in your results. As for your light measurement, it depends on your technique and your question. For the purpose of your experiment, UV intensity (also known as "irradiance") may be a good metric, which is in watts/m^2. Also, what treatment are you considering to be the 'control' for your experiment?

Keep up the great work! 

~Bela

snugargposspring2024 project 3 Bela Starinchak Mar 12 at 08:45am

Hi all! 

My name is Bela Starinchak and I'll be your scientist mentor. I am a Research Associate at the Yale School of the Environment, and my work focuses primarily on natural climate solutions in the Amazon. I also absolutely love…

more

Hi all! 

My name is Bela Starinchak and I'll be your scientist mentor. I am a Research Associate at the Yale School of the Environment, and my work focuses primarily on natural climate solutions in the Amazon. I also absolutely love plants. My favorite right now is one of my houseplants, a staghorn fern :)

I've enjoyed reading your introductions and I look forward to helping you all with your projects! 

~Bela

 

YES PLANTS! Bela Starinchak Nov 9, 2023

Those are great ideas! Keep up the good work!!