Profile

• Time Zone

  (GMT -10) Hawaii

  
  
• Organization

  National Tropical Botanical Garden

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  As Seed Bank and Laboratory Manager at the National Tropical Botanical Garden, I specialize in ex situ seed conservation biology with an emphasis on seed and pollen storage behavior, seed longevity and aging kinetics, seed borne pathogen abatement, and seed dormancy and dormancy alleviation of native Hawaiian plant species of conservation importance. My research aims to understand how seeds respond to desiccation and subfreezing temperatures, identifying regeneration intervals, and determining optimal seed propagation techniques.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

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

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

  Science isn't always an exact science.

  
  
• 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 loved science as a grade school student! However, something happened right around the time I entered high school. I became disinterested and was completely turned off by science. I did not receive complementary marks in science classes as a high school student. Yet several years later I became intrigued by the world of plants and found my life's passion in plant biology and conservation.

  
  
• 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):

  (not set)

  
  
• 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?

  1

  
  

Recent Posts

IDC Dustin Wolkis Apr 3, 2018

Great data sheet! It's always a good idea to have one column for every type of variable. Try restructuring this so that each variable is in it's column. For example you could have one column for germination and another for color. Also, if…

more

Great data sheet! It's always a good idea to have one column for every type of variable. Try restructuring this so that each variable is in it's column. For example you could have one column for germination and another for color. Also, if you know how many seeds germinated on each day, you could add that information (even if it is zero).

IDC Dustin Wolkis Apr 3, 2018

How is the investigation going? Has anyone seen any of my previous posts?

IDC Dustin Wolkis Mar 20, 2018

I see you have your research question, which is great! Every project starts with an observed problem, which guides the formulation of a question to be answered. Typically, a question must start with How, What, When, Who, Which, Why or Where.…

more

I see you have your research question, which is great! Every project starts with an observed problem, which guides the formulation of a question to be answered. Typically, a question must start with How, What, When, Who, Which, Why or Where. It's important to clearly define your question early on, as this is what will guide you experimental design. It's my job as a mentor to make sure the question is actually answerable especially given time, resource, and other restrictions.

Try having a go at phrasing this in the form of a question.