Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  Oklahoma State University

  
  
• Employment Status

  University / College Graduate Student

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Hello! I am interested in how global warming affects plant communities in tropical forests! Specifically, I look at how global warming affects the nitrogen cycle and the microbes involved in the nitrogen cycle, and how that impact, in turn, affects how trees 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):

  I decided to go into science because I want to solve important problems with the help of plants. I didn't know exactly what type of scientist I wanted to be at first, so first I worked with plant chemistry, then genetic engineering, both in the lab, and now I'm working with plants outside in the forest. All my jobs have been fun, but I love working outside the most and that's why I want to be a scientist in the field.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is tough about being a scientist?

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

  Sometimes being a scientist is a little tough for me because, personally, I don't really like working on my computer, and some science involves a lot of computer work. Also it's hard to think about world problems as part of your work. Luckily, I don't have to work on the computer too much with the type of work I'm doing, so that's super fun. Also, even though I have to think about problems a lot, I'm always thinking of ways to address those problems and how to be a part of the community that fixes them. It's really better not to ignore the world's problems when you can be thinking about how to fix them!

  
  
• Profile Question 3

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

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

  The irst important lesson that I learned is that science takes a lot of communal effort. Maybe if you really love working alone then you can find some specialized scientific subject to study and you can be the super-expert on that subject and do many things yourself. But really, this situation isn't as realistic when working in science because you need lots of people to work together on a problem in order to fix that problem. And that's a good thing! Different perspectives and ideas coming together really let's us tackle issues effectively and efficiently. The second lesson is that the science field is so big that you can go into thinking you will become an expert on one thing, and then change your mind and decide you like something else better! And you can just switch paths because the skills you learn on one path will still be interesting and useful on another path. Unique backgrounds are very appreciated in science.

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

  4

  
  

Recent Posts

lhselligposfall2023 project 12 Parker Bartz Nov 27, 2023

Hey guys,

Good luck on your final week with this project - If you have any questions let me know!

lhselligposfall2023 project 12 Parker Bartz Nov 15, 2023

Hey everyone! Like Meghan said, it may be helpful to fill out the blue boxes to outline your experiment. That way I can help you better designing it and understanding it. Otherwise, keep asking me any and all questions you have!

lhselligposfall2023 project 12 Parker Bartz Nov 15, 2023

OK, got it! So the pH of the phenol red will be an indicator of the CO2 levels in your experiment. The CO2 reacts with phenol red, lowering the pH (aka CO2 makes it more acidic), and turning the phenol red yellow.

Just to reiterate for…

more

OK, got it! So the pH of the phenol red will be an indicator of the CO2 levels in your experiment. The CO2 reacts with phenol red, lowering the pH (aka CO2 makes it more acidic), and turning the phenol red yellow.

Just to reiterate for clarity: when the phenol red is more red/pink, the solution is more neutral, and when the phenol red is more yellow, the solution is more acidic. Therefore, the more yellow solution indicates a higher CO2 level.

So, instead of measuring the pH level of the plant, you are really measuring the pH level of the phenol red, which is an indicator of carbon dioxide content of the phenol red. You probably saw this when you blew into the phenol red with a straw: the CO2 that you breathed out and into the phenol red lowered the solution's pH, turning it yellow.

So now, since you know phenol red is an indicator of CO2 level, you can think about how you can use phenol red to measure photosynthesis level. Because you mentioned wanting to measure plant photosynthesis. What does photosynthesis produce that phenol red can help you measure?