Profile

• Time Zone

  Mountain

  
  
• Organization

  University of Colorado - Boulder

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I study the timing of plant cycles, such as when plants start growing in the spring, bloom, or die in the fall. For example, you've probably noticed that plants often start growing earlier in the spring some years, and later in the spring other years. My research tries to understand what causes that difference in timing, which could be due to changes in the amount of sunlight, temperature, or rainfall that plants receive each year. Then, we try to predict how the timing of these plant cycles will shift in the future due to climate change.

  
  
• 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've always enjoyed being outside and gardening. For example, I used to grow watermelons and would use a kitchen scale to weigh them every week to monitor their growth. But I didn't realize that I wanted to turn that into a career in science until I was in college and started working at the greenhouse on campus. I loved measuring the plants and understanding how they grew!

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  I lived in Arizona for a while, and I was really impressed by saguaro cacti. They only grow in one place in the world (the Sonoran desert), they can live for over 200 years, and can grow up to 40 feet tall! They also have really pretty white blossoms in the late spring.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  Can you share a funny/interesting lab or field story?

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

  I worked as an entomologist (person who studies bugs) for a while. We were studying black flies in Maryland - the annoying gnats that fly around your head. In order to collects the flies to study them, I had to act as humna bait! So I stood there attracting flies, and then my partner used a net to catch them over my head. Except sometimes the net whacked me in the head... all in the name of science!

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

lhselligposfall2023 project 8 Alison Post Dec 1, 2023

Oh interesting, I think these results do give you some good information. To summarize: 

Acidic (lemon juice): 4 floating

Neutral (water): 3 floating

Basic (baking soda): 10 floating

To me, it seems that the acidic and neutral…

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Oh interesting, I think these results do give you some good information. To summarize: 

Acidic (lemon juice): 4 floating

Neutral (water): 3 floating

Basic (baking soda): 10 floating

To me, it seems that the acidic and neutral treatments have similar results (3-4 floating disks), but the basic treatment is really different with all 10 disks floating! What do you think this pattern tells you about how the pH of water impacts photosynthesis?

lhselligposfall2023 project 8 Alison Post Nov 30, 2023

Have you gotten results yet? I'm so curious to hear what you found!

lhselligposfall2023 project 8 Alison Post Nov 22, 2023

Those are good predictions!