Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  University of Michigan; Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  My research focuses on how proteins in the cell wall, and enzymes that modify cell wall-associated proteins, function in the fertilization process of flowering plants. We use genetics, molecular biology, and imaging techniques to examine how a specific family of enzymes functions in pollen tube growth- a key process in fertilization.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is a typical day like for you?

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

  A typical day includes arriving at lab around 9 AM, writing my daily to-do list in my lab notebook, and beginning experiments as soon as I can. When I am not performing experiments at the bench, I am either reading scientific literature, analyzing data, doing lab chores, or grading papers.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  Someone wiser than myself told me that "science isn't about the fancy techniques, it's about being able to change the way you think about something." If everyone in the world could become capable of thinking about things differently (meaning if everyone could be more "scientific"), there would be a lot less problems in the world today. Also, as a guitarist, this notion translates to me in another way. Many of my most creative breakthroughs are a result of changing the way I think about how to play something.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

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

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

  I really didn't have much of an interest in science in high school. I did well in biology, chemistry, and AP biology, but I was much more invested in skateboarding, soccer, music, surfing, and other non-schoolwork-related activities. I had to cram for the AP biology test; the test results had no effect on my grade, but my sense of pride made me determined to pass the AP test. I did pass, and the sense of accomplishment was inspiring enough to make me apply to colleges with biology as my desired major.

  
  
• Help represent the outreach efforts of your societies. Please click all those organizations you are a member of:

  (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?

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

Got Science? Steven Beuder Dec 12, 2017

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the updates. I'm not sure how to interpret the data you sent me. How does counting the number of floating vs. non-floating leaf disks tell you anything about photosynthesis? And how does this graph represent that…

more

Hi all,

 

Thanks for the updates. I'm not sure how to interpret the data you sent me. How does counting the number of floating vs. non-floating leaf disks tell you anything about photosynthesis? And how does this graph represent that data? 

 

When you create a chart/graph to show the results of the experiment, aim to show the data in the clearest way possible. I recommend spending some more time thinking about what you were trying to test with this experiment and figure out a better way of presenting the data you obtained. Once that's done, what conclusions can you draw?

Got Science? Steven Beuder Dec 5, 2017

Hi all,

 

Glad to hear that you are beginning your experiment. Here are a couple questions that you should think about to help guide you through this experiment.

1) What is your hypothesis? Do you think that using different colors of…

more

Hi all,

 

Glad to hear that you are beginning your experiment. Here are a couple questions that you should think about to help guide you through this experiment.

1) What is your hypothesis? Do you think that using different colors of light will affect growth differently? If so, why?

2) What do you expect from your control group? There's another control I'm thinking of that would be great for your experiment. Can anyone figure out what that is? 

3) IF different color light sources affect plant growth, is 24 hours enough time to observe differences in plant growth?

4) What plant are you using? This will help you answer the above question #3.

Think about these before you set up your experiment. Also, think about what the answer to #2 is. 

pmshsullockfall2017 project 7 Steven Beuder Nov 27, 2017

Hi Peter, all,

How are you measuring photosynthetic output, specifically? 

Expansion/growth of tissues is obviously dependent upon photosynthesis (and furthermore, more tissue -> more chlorophyll -> more photosynthesis),…

more

Hi Peter, all,

How are you measuring photosynthetic output, specifically? 

Expansion/growth of tissues is obviously dependent upon photosynthesis (and furthermore, more tissue -> more chlorophyll -> more photosynthesis), so did the algae not grow at all? If this is the case, then perhaps there was not enough time allowed for them to grow, or examine changes in "photosynthetic output."

Also, LED lights are excellent for growing all of the plants we work with (Arabidopsis, tomato, bell peppers, eggplant, soybeans, and marchantia), so I wouldn't expect that to be the issue. Do some google searches for preferred light source for algae growth and see what comes up.

 

Best,

Steven