Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  Ohio University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  My research interests focus on plant ecology at the population and community level. I am interested in understanding the processes and interactions that cause plants to grow in some places but not in others, and how plant communities assemble in disturbed and human-altered ecosystems. My dissertation research focused on understanding how forests develop after abandonment from agriculture.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

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

  The Eastern skunk cabbage holds a special place in my heart for both aesthetic and biological reasons. Skunk cabbage is a member of my favorite plant family, Araceae or the arum family. They are found in wet habitats and are the first forest flower to bloom. I've seen flowers as early as December! The skunk cabbage flower is very unusual looking and comes in many shades of purple and green. They produce heat while fertile, and it is not uncommon to see circles melted in the snow with a skunk cabbage blooming in the middle. Heat also likely helps disperse their foul, skunk-like odor to attract flies as pollinators. Skunk cabbage leaves emerge before those of other forest plants too, and the first unfurling of brilliant green leaves while the forest is dominated by shades of gray and brown is one of the most sublimely joyful things about Spring to me.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is best about being a scientist?

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

  My favorite things about being a scientist are getting to learn more and think creatively about topics that interest me. The process of refining a research question and designing the best experiment to answer it are challenging and engaging in a way I find very satisfying. Being a scientist also means I can explore all kinds of topics that interest me and think of ways to tie them in with other research I've done. Upon finding out about a new topic or process, I can always think of ways it relates to my research interests and details that might be fun to pursue work on in the future. There is more research out there than I could ever do myself. It's never boring.

  
  
• 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 loved the material we learned in science classes and was interested in a variety of natural history topics, but I wasn't what many would think of as a science student. I was an art kid and planned on attending art school for college until my junior year, when I decided either physics or biology might be more in line with my interests. I was also dead-set against an academic career, having grown up in an academic family and only seen the negative aspects of graduate school and research. Fortunately, I have since learned that doing science doesn't have to mean giving up everything else and can be a lot of fun as well.

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

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