Profile

• Time Zone

  Pacific

  
  
• Organization

  Driscoll's

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  My research interests include microbiology, plant physiology and genetics. I have previously worked on research studying the efficacy of biological control on foodborne pathogens on fruits and vegetables. My current focus is host resistance in specialty crops. I am working with a multitude of fungal and bacterial pathogens on rubus and strawberry. I am studying the heredity of plant resistance and working on developing molecular markers for the resistance.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  As a scientist I have the incredible opportunity to see and gain a deeper understanding of plant pathogen interactions. I love receiving plant samples, isolating tissue from plants showing symptoms of a pathogen infection and then identifying the bacteria or fungus that may have been associated with the plant decline. Seeing the isolated bacterial cells and fungal spores under the microscope brings me so much joy. I feel so blessed to be able to study and see the beautiful world that is unseen to the naked eye.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  Can you describe your attitude toward science when you were in high school?

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

  I found science to be extremely challenging and exciting in high school. I was blessed to have enthusiastic teachers who instilled in me the rational and creativity of the scientific method. Additionally, my passion for the sciences was heightened by teachers who incorporated scientific experiments and projects into the curriculum; difficult and sometimes abstract concepts became tangible.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is a typical day like for you?

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

  Although there is no typical day as a plant pathologist there are tasks that must be done regularly . These include the maintenance of fungal and bacterial pathogens, preparation of inoculum for host resistance assays, and diagnosis of plant samples for pathogen infection.

  
  
• Availability

  I am NOT available, please temporarily remove me from the available mentor list

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

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

Peas in a Pod Franca Rossi Apr 5, 2019

Hi girls! Hope all is well. Where you able to figure out how to make the line graphs? I was unable to find your final presentation in the files. Can you upload it again? I will review it this weekend. I hope you have fun plans for the weekend.

Peas in a Pod Franca Rossi Mar 27, 2019

Hello girls. Thank you for thinking through how you could better represent your day. You were on the right track in that you need to show change over time. 

I have a few suggestions for you

1. For each of your treatments you had 10…

more

Hello girls. Thank you for thinking through how you could better represent your day. You were on the right track in that you need to show change over time. 

I have a few suggestions for you

1. For each of your treatments you had 10 replicates. In science we make sure to have replicates because there is always some degree of variation (differences) within our treatment. Would you expect all the seeds you grow 5 cm? Of course not. As you saw some seeds may not grow at all while others grew more than 3 cm. Scientists will typically find the average value for each of their treatments. The average is calculated by adding the value of all 10 replicates and then dividing by your replicates which is 10. For your experiment you are trying to find the average height per day for plants grown in the dark, partial light, and full sunlight.

2. Once you have your average values per day for each treatment you are ready to make your graph. A line graph is better than a bar graph as you are looking at change over time. Height will still be on the y-axis but on the x-axis will be time. There will be three lines on the graph. The lines will be in different colors and will represent your three treatment groups. 

Let me know how this goes! Have fun calculating averages!

Peas in a Pod Franca Rossi Mar 26, 2019

Can you girls explain your plant height graph to me? What do the different line colors represent? Does D2 represent plant replicate 2 grown in the dark? Did you girls name your plants?:) 

Great job on the y axis. Let's think of ways to…

more

Can you girls explain your plant height graph to me? What do the different line colors represent? Does D2 represent plant replicate 2 grown in the dark? Did you girls name your plants?:) 

Great job on the y axis. Let's think of ways to improve the x axis to help us better understand the data.