Profile

• Time Zone

  Pacific

  
  
• Organization

  Stanford University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am interested in how plants adapt to climate change. I like researching what traits they have and what part of their genetic information is important for surviving in our changing world.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is a typical day like for you?

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

  I start my days by checking on my plants (all Arabidopsis thaliana plants from around the world). I am growing thousands of plants outside in a garden (actually 30,000 plants). Some days I take measurements on them, and others I just check to make sure everything is going okay with the irrigation. Some measurements I could take are how many flowers does the plant have, how tall is the plant, how many seeds did they produce. Then, I go to work on my computer, I use cool software to learn about the genetics of the plants. I look at the data I collected from the field (even that same day that it was collected) with the genetic data to look for trends in how parts of the genetic material are related to the traits I study. Working on the computer is so useful, but I also like to go on walks during the day to think about biology and think about other plants.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  You get to ask whatever questions interest you! No one is telling you what is important, you get to use your brain do determine what is the most interesting or exciting. Then you get to use creativity to design an experiment to address your question perfectly. A lot of people science and creativity don't go together, but I've found quite the opposite. You need creativity to come up with questions and experimental design, and I have genuinely spent hours and hours doing "crafts" to make useful things for my experiment. Using supplies from craft stores and hardware stores, I built this awesome box that I use to take pictures of plants uniformly. With these pictures, I can use image analysis software to answer questions about my research that I find exciting.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  My favorite plant is Caulanthus inflatus (desert candlestick). Please look up pictures of it! It is a native California desert wildflower that I used to study. It is just so cool looking! It is called desert candle stick because it grows in the desert but also because the stem looks like a candle stick and all of the buds on top of the stem look like a red/purple flame! Also, you can learn about what it looks like from the latin name "inflatus". This plant's stem inflates like a balloon. The stem is really thick, but empty on the inside! No one quite knows why the stem is like that from a biological perspective. Additionally, no one quite knows why there is a tuft of red buds only at the top of the stem. I have some hypotheses that I hope to test in the future to address these unknowns (which is another fun thing about science and being a scientist... I find these things interesting so I can just design the experiments and find out what is going on there!!)
  
  This plant is cool for many other reasons, it has an interesting phylogenetic history and restricted geographic range both of which are topics I like to think about too. Anyways, please google this beautiful plant!

  
  
• 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