Meet the Current Ambassadors

University of Florida

modestaabugu@ufl.edu

I am a master’s student at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University. I am currently studying in the center for genomics and biotechnology under the supervision of Dr Yuan Qin. She’s using functional genomics and molecular biology techniques to study the roles of some genes in abiotic stress response in rice and pineapple.

Prior studying at FAFU, I worked for a few years in the agricultural service sector in my home country Nigeria after graduating with a Bachelor degree in general Agriculture. I envisages developing more skills in phenomics and computational biology in the next phase of her study. I also have passion for educational development and food security particularly in developing countries. I joined ASPB in order to learn more about the plant biology community and through communication of the importance of plant biology to young girls in Nigeria and Africa I hope to contribute to the broad vision of ASPB. In February 2019 I was selected as an ASPB ambassador.

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I completed my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in plant breeding and genetics from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (Pakistan). During my master, I worked in the laboratory of Prof. Asif Ali Khan where I checked the resistance status of field collected Helicoverpa armigera against different accessions of Bt cotton cultivated in Pakistan under the supervision of Prof. Asif and Dr. Masooma. To fulfill the research thirst in plant biology, I continued my studies and joined Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing in September, 2017 for doctoral studies. Currently, I’m working on rice blast disease in Prof. Hu Peisong’s Lab with the aim and hope to develop blast resistant rice lines with high grain quality using CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Besides research, in my spare time, I love blogging, utilize social media platforms to interact with fellows to get know-how about the things happening around and hang-out with friends. I’m excited being an ASPB Ambassador and I hope to experience this unique opportunity to spread the good work of APSB. I’m looking forward to meeting with professionals working in the field of plant biology so that the interaction and learning will harness benefits for the society!

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My name is Israel, and I am from Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, USA. I am doing research in plant development by examining components of the auxin signaling pathway. I intend to do outreach with children of all ages to show them the beauty that comes with doing molecular work. I also intend to contribute blog posts to ASPB Plant Science Today and contribute to ASPB News as well. Here is a fun fact: I have taken up the study of the Latin language during my free time. I hope to be able to read the Latin version of Winnie the Pooh by the end of this year and make progress on the Aeneid. I am also learning Tagalog and Greek!

I am currently a PhD candidate in the Plant Biology Graduate Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. My research in the lab of Prof. Elsbeth Walker focuses on understanding the mechanisms behind shoot-to-root iron signaling in Arabidopsis thaliana. In the lab, I use a combination of molecular and bioinformatic approaches to investigate these mechanisms. Before UMass, I had worked with Prof. Iris Finkemeier at the Max-Planck Institute for Plant Breeding in Cologne, Germany for my master’s degree. As a young scientist interested in open-access publishing, I had my first advocacy opportunity as an eLife Ambassador in 2018. I was involved in an initiative to increase the visibility and quality of preprints. To support this initiative, we had incorporated preprints into our journal club series at UMass in 2018 and as a result we have published our reviews on PREreview, a preprint review platform.

The inauguration of Plant Direct and its strong promotion of preprints as part of the manuscript submission process have made preprints a part of ASPB’s message. As an ASPB ambassador, I am planning to focus my efforts on increasing awareness for preprints and help ASPB to strengthen its message on a fair and transparent peer review process.

My name is Max Barnhart, I am a 4th year PhD Candidate at the University of Georgia studying the impacts of heat stress on sunflower reproduction. In addition to my research, I am also extremely passionate about science communication and was awarded an ASPB BLOOME Grant in 2020 to print and publish science zines in Athens, GA through the Athens Science Observer, a scicomm organization run by myself and fellow UGA graduate students. In my free time I do TaeKwonDo and Yoga in addition to spending time hanging out with friends and reading.

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I am currently working as Project Assistant in Professor Sandhya S Visweswariah’s laboratory at the Department of Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics at Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India. I finished my Bachelors of Engineering in Biotechnology from Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bangalore. I am interested in researching medicinal plants and identifying potential pharmaceutical compounds in my future study.

I am very excited to be a part of ASPB, hoping to meet motivated people in plant biology. I would love to network and learn from all of them about their research and passion for plants.

I am thrilled to use this wonderful opportunity to broaden the visions of ASPB.

yashikabopanna@gmail.com

This is Tugce Celayir! I am a research scholar in UC Davis Entomology and Nematology. Also, I am currently a M.Sc. student and PhD candidate. My research interest is plant space biology. My dream is improving the quality of spaceflights and helping people to reach Mars. Now, I am investigating plant-pathogen interactions. Before, I had experience with abiotic stress factors too. I choose to improve my knowledge on plant stress biology because in space the most important obstacle for plants is stress originating from space conditions itself. For my point of view, reaching more people and teaching science to inspire them has significant importance. My outreach strategy is using both social media tools and science platforms such as ASPB. In order to ensure better outreach, collaboration and teamwork are necessary. Finally, perhaps, I will prepare samples that will visit space, and this is just the beginning. I always will continue to dream and achieve. Who knows? Maybe one day, Tugce Celayir can visit space in order to study on her own samples.

My name is Aishee De, I’ve done my doctoral research in Plant biology from Bose Institute, India. I’ve always been fascinated and excited to know about plants. However, it was during my pre-doctoral days that I developed a deeper interest in them and eventually started working at both genetic and molecular level. In my recent research, I have worked extensively on investigating the early signalling events associated with perception of pathogens by membrane receptors. My work was aimed at improving crop production and reducing dependence on fungicides. Apart from being an active researcher, I’m also a passionate science communicator; I have always made a conscious effort to communicate my work to a wider audience by publishing papers and presenting them at various national and international forums.

Outside of research, I always look for opportunities where I can make a positive difference in the society. Recently, I have volunteered for a non-profit organization based in Cameroon, where I helped them spread awareness on environmental and societal issues. I’m also someone who thrives in diverse multicultural environments. I love to connect with people around the world, learn about their country and culture, so much so that now I can fluently speak and understand four different languages. If you see a new ASPB ambassador who’s a super active researcher by the day, a passionate social worker by the night, and survives on intermittent power naps in between well then, that’s pretty much me!

I am Aditi Dwivedi, a final year graduate student at National Institute of Plant Genome Research, New Delhi, India. I am fascinated with plant developmental responses under changing environmental conditions. I got curious and developed interest in environmental signalling in plants during my Master’s dissertation at National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India. My PhD work primarily focusses on comparative investigation of plant transcriptional and developmental changes under changing light and temperature conditions in phylogenetically different plant species using transcriptomics. Leads from my PhD research will be instrumental to develop climate smart plants in future. Further, my academic career would be directed in deciphering the biochemical and developmental response of plants towards changing environmental conditions integrating multi-omics approach at single cell level. Other than research, I like teaching and mentoring. I taught Molecular biology and molecular genetics to bachelor’s and Master’s students. Heading and organizing educational and cultural events as a college captain during my early days has given me confidence to be a part of such programmes. In 2020, I was part of the Plantae Webinar Series ‘ Evo-devo as a discovery tool ’. As an ASPB ambassador, I aim to motivate young students to get excited about plant science. I am fascinated to interview the established leaders in the field of plant science for the articles in ASPB News as such interactions would instill confidence that would inspire me for furthering my career in plant science research and communication.

Andrew is a PhD student at the University of Florida in the Environmental Horticulture Department. He has a broad interest in plant science research, especially on signaling in plant development and the interaction of developmental and environmental signals on growth and performance. He is also interested in applying plant science knowledge and skills in crop improvement and biopharming.

New email: egesaa@ufl.edu

My name is Maria Clara and I am a master’s student at the University of Arkansas, in the Crop Soil and Environmental Science department. In my current research, I am using phenotyping and transcriptomic analysis to understand the functions of SnRK1 signaling in rice plants.

One of my outreaches interests is to encourage young people to pursue careers as scientists. For example, through social media, I created a mentorship group that I helped young Brazilians get into U.S and Canadian colleges to do internships or graduate studies in science fields. In my free time, I like to go hiking, swimming, playing volleyball, and reading fiction books. A fun fact about myself is that I grew up on a farm in Brazil and this made me very interested in plant science.

Univeristy of Arkansas

I am a PhD student studying Plant Biology with a specialization in Predictive Plant Phenomics, at Iowa State University in Dr. Justin Walley’s lab. My work focuses on the role of post translational modifications (primarily acetylation) in plant-pathogen interactions. I grew up in Florida and first became interested in plant science in my undergraduate years at Florida State University where I worked in a maize genetics lab. At Iowa State, I am the president of the Graduate Student Organization of Plant Biologists and a Graduate Student Senate Representative for Plant Pathology and Microbiology. Outside of the lab, I enjoy working out, hanging out with friends and playing board games. As an ambassador, I hope to spread the message and the brand of ASPB.

Contact me at bdg@iastate.edu

I am a recent graduate of the University of California San Diego, currently working outside of plant biology, but applying to plant biology graduate programs for Fall 2022. During my undergrad, I spent 4 wonderful years in the Huffaker lab studying plant innate immunity.

I worked on several projects during this time, including investigation of a transcription factor which was found to modulate plant defense responses in a phosphorylation dependent manner. Another project identified a receptor for the inceptin elicitor of plant defense, which originates from herbivory events in beans. My most recent project was characterizing a novel family of defense signaling peptides in multiple species of the bean family, as well as characterizing the putative receptors in their respective plant systems. I was a 2018 SURF awardee for this project and presented my results at the Plant Biology conference in San Jose in 2019.

I am very excited to be able to spread knowledge of plant sciences as an ASPB ambassador and get to know the other ambassadors as well.

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Aleah is a doctoral candidate in the University of Kansas Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) department. Aleah received her Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Biology from Dillard University (an HBCU in New Orleans, LA). She has maintained membership in the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) since 2017. Aleah is broadly interested in plant biology and had the opportunity to be a participant in the 2017 Frontiers and Techniques in Plant Science course at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, New York, USA as well as the ASPB Conviron Scholar’s program in 2020. In addition to her research, Aleah is very passionate about scientific communication, outreach, and increasing participation and retention of underrepresented groups in STEM fields. She is a founding member of Jayhawks Breaking Barriers (ku.jbb.edu). This program was funded through a CAP grant by the American Association for University Women (AAUW). As a co-author and JBB leadership team member, Aleah organized workshops and panels to raise awareness of the gender leadership gap in STEM fields. Now that the program has evolved into a course for undergraduate students, Aleah works with the JBB Research Committee to assess the efficacy of the course objectives on encouraging upward mobility in STEM among underrepresented groups. As a newly inducted member of the ASPB Ambassadors, Aleah looks forward to participating in more initiatives dedicated to furthering the ASPB mission and communicating science to other plant biologists and the broader public.

Hi, my name is Asia Hightower I am currently an MS student at Wayne State University. I am interested in the genetic regulation of morphology in dioecious plant species. I love dogs and critiquing films.

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I am going to be starting a PhD program in Fall 2020 and will be studying plant molecular biology. I am most interested in studying gene regulation and epigenetics. My undergraduate experience in Dr. Judy Brusslan’s lab involved studying the transcriptional regulation of leaf senescence and how different developmental events trigger leaf senescence-related signaling in Arabidopsis. I interned with Dr. Alison DeLong to study the role a particular phosphatase plays in regulating Arabidopsis plant size. I am learning piano and American Sign Language (ASL), and I want to eventually become a certified ASL interpreter.  As an ASPB scholar I wrote an article and developed public friendly infographics about GMO safety, and as an Ambassador I intend to continue expanding my scicomm skills to help increase the visibility of plant biology in society

Contact me at willehinckley@gmail.com

Aldous N. Hofmann – Aldous is fine

University of Maine

Vaccinium a. anatomical variation, physiological variation, effects of nanocellulose treatments

I love communicating science to farmers and the general public. I can over 100 quarts of food from my personal garden each year. I am a former chef and current motorcycle rider.

Aldous Hofmann resides at the University of Maine where, when not riding his motorcycle, attending Lodge, or gardening, he can be found sharing the intense variation observed in Maine Wild Blueberries with the community and farmers.

I am from Charlotte, North Carolina and received my B.S. in Biology from Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee in 2017. While in my undergraduate degree, I became highly interested in plant biology. During that time, I worked as research technician with USDA at North Carolina State University on a project examining elevated ozone response in soybean. I also served as the garden overseer in an environmental science club at my undergraduate institution where I taught club members how to raise vegetables.  These combined experiences sparked my interest in plant physiology and nutrition. I followed these interests into graduate school where I got into the lab of Dr. Marinus Pilon. Additionally, I obtained an internship position with Dr. Sean Gleason at the USDA-ARS in Ft. Collins, CO while in graduate school. In this position, I have worked on a broad array of projects investigating drought tolerance traits in crops.

I am currently in the 5^th year of my PhD program researching copper transport in poplar and examining the effects of copper deficiency on poplar ultrastructure. I take a broad and integrative approach to my research influenced by my dual roles at the USDA and CSU. I became a member of ASPB in 2020 and was accepted into the Ambassador program in the spring of 2021. I presented my first national conference poster at Plant Biology 2021 on copper transport in poplar. My career goals include a long-standing interest in agriculture research in government or industry. I look forward to severing as an ASPB Ambassador both now and in the future to help shape the future of plant biology.

cameron.hunter@colostate.edu

Anne-Sophie Bohrer is a senior research associate at Michigan State University (MSU) in the Takahashi lab. Her initial work focused on the study of sulfur metabolism in Arabidopsis, with an emphasis on understanding the regulation mechanisms of sulfate uptake and sulfate assimilation in the cytosol and the chloroplasts.

Anne-Sophie is now continuing her postdoc in the Great lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) at MSU and is involved in the project that aims at developing a sustainable production of bioenergy crops by leveraging plant and microbiome traits to promote productivity on marginal lands. Specifically, Anne-Sophie is conducting the metabolite profiling of switchgrass under various stress to identify key factors that promote growth and survival of switchgrass in North America.

Anne-Sophie graduated in 2012 with her PhD in plant biochemistry and molecular biology from the University Paris-Sud (France).

Twitter: @AnsoBohrer

Louis Pasteur once said, “Science know no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch  which  illuminates  the  world”.  With this torch  I  plan  to  help  with  the diversification, incursion and contribute of science to a wider audience. This quote always stood out to me; as Ijourney towards my goal to become a better scientist. My name is Janeen Braynen and I’ve obtained my doctorate degree at Zhengzhou University in Zhengzhou, China. As  a  Ph.D.  student  my  primarily  focus  was  to  understand  alteration  occurring  during reproduction and flowering time in diploid, haploid and polyploid Brassica rapa using various  omics techniques.  Currently, my research focus on understanding gene regulatory networks which control nutrient used efficiencies in crop plants. Apart from my research endeavors, I am passionate about teaching and communicating science to non-scientist and young future scientist. Prior, to my post doctorate studies, I volunteer extensively in undergraduate classes, in my country, to discuss my journey in science and the impact science research can have on societies. In addition to this all, I am individual who love to serve my community by volunteer my  time  to  tutor  elementary  and  high  school  students. Also, I  enjoy  being  a  part  of organizations that serve, help, and is committed to uplifting children and young adults within local communities. Moreover, my hobbies include baking and practicing yoga.

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at Noble Research Institute in Oklahoma. I work with Professor Elison Blancaflor to dissect the transcriptomic changes that occur in root columella cells when they are gravistimulated using RNA-Seq and laser capture microdissection techniques. Prior to my postdoctoral fellowship, I completed my PhD dissertation with Professor Ulrike Mathesius in Australian National University on elucidating how flavonoids protect plants from root-knot nematode infection. I am excited to work as an ASPB ambassador to work on issues pertaining early career researchers provide a community support to other postdocs and graduate students particularly on issues pertaining mental health awareness and job sustainability. Additionally, I hope to encourage scientific participation in local schools by anchoring on ASPB’s education and outreach programs.

My Plantae profile is as following: https://community.plantae.org/user/sabrinals_chin

I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Donald Danforth Plant Science in St. Louis, Missouri in Dr. Blake’s Meyers’ Lab. My research is focused on studying the transcriptional activities occurring in plant-microbes interactions at a single-cellular level. By pinpointing where in the plant specific genes are active, I hope I’m able to determine how plant cells and microbes communicate and discover novel ways to improve crop yields.

For my educational background, I went to University of Missouri-St. Louis to major in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. After graduating in 2013, I enrolled into graduate school at Texas A&M University to study the molecular mechanisms of a disease on cotton called Bacterial Blight of Cotton in Dr. Libo Shan’s lab. In 2018, I received my PhD in Plant Pathology and started my post-doc at the Danforth Center in January 2019 where I still reside today as a HHMI Hanna Gray Fellow. Outside the lab, I also participate in various outreach activities such as speaking and giving science lessons at primary schools in the St. Louis region.

As an ASPB ambassador, I’m excited to work with ASPB and the other ambassadors on communicating science to other scientists and the general public. One of the ways I intend to do this is making short videos on my YouTube Channel that discusses a variety of science topics in a manner that’s understandable to the general public. Additionally, I am eager to help recruit other early career scientists to become members in the ASPB society. The great community of ASPB has provided opportunities for me to network and grow as a scientist and I would like all scientists to also receive that as well.

Contact me at kcox@danforthcenter.org

Virginia Tech

freedc@vt.edu

Name and preferred/nickname: Vishnu Mishra

Institution: National Institute of Plant Genome research (NIPGR), New Delhi, India.

Research Interests: miRNAs, plant development and molecular biology.

Outreach Interests: I am interested in all the topics related to outreach, science communication and popularization.

A fun fact about yourself: I like to play cricket and hanging out with my friends, and stuff like that.

Anything else you want people to know about you: Yes, if I was not in research, would have been in an intelligence agency and would have served my country.

Introduction: Myself, Vishnu Mishra and currently working at National Institute of Plant Genome research (NIPGR) under Prof. Ananda K. Sarkar. I have completed my Ph.D. work at NIPGR, New Delhi, India. My Ph.D. research involves the detailed expression analysis of miRNA(s) and targets in Arabidopsis and the functional characterization of miRNA(s) and targets for possible role in shoot or root development. Apart from research, I like to play cricket and hanging out with my friends, and stuff like that. I am interested in all the topics related to outreach, science communication and popularization. Yes, one important thing to know about me is that if I was not in research, would have been in an intelligence agency and would have served for country.

Twitter: @VishnuM02351183

Hello everyone, I am a research associate in the Department of Botany at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I received my Ph.D. in plant biology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville under the guidance of Dr. Brad M. Binder, where I had worked on the contrasting roles of ethylene receptors ETR1 and ETR2 in the regulation of seed germination under different abiotic stress responses in the model plant system Arabidopsis thaliana. Currently, in Dr. Simon Gilroy’s lab at UW-Madison, I am working on several projects where I am looking into the role of calcium signaling and its components in the regulation of flooding and low-oxygen stress responses in plants under earth-based as well as outer space microgravity-based environments. Till date, I have worked on different plant systems ranging from the model plant Arabidopsis to other species such as tobacco, cotton, and tomato. Beyond doing research in the laboratory, I love teaching science. I had been a lecturer in the University of Calcutta back in India after completing my master’s program and had also taught multiple semesters during my graduate school and at UW-Madison. Apart from research, I really enjoy doing martial arts, acting in plays and showcasing Indian culture in the form of dance or songs in different cultural events. If you are curious to know how plants behave and grow in space, please feel free to contact me in my email id: bakshi4@wisc.edu.

I am a Plant Physiology Scientist II with Bayer Crop Science in the Biologics Corn and Soy Crop Efficiency team. My work is focused on evaluating candidate microbes that can sustainably contribute to nitrogen nutrition in corn and soy and advancing strong candidates for product development.

Prior to this, I earned a B.Sci. in Plant Science and Biology from Utah State University and then completed a Ph.D. in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. While conducting doctoral research on the molecular mechanisms that control the formation of symbiotic associations between poplar trees and mycorrhizal fungi, I received a 3-year NSF graduate research fellowship. After graduating, I continued my research on beneficial plant-microbe interactions as a postdoctoral research associate at South Dakota State University. For three years, I studied legume tripartite interactions with both arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and the nitrogen fixing bacteria rhizobia. I then transitioned to Oak Ridge National Lab for one year and characterized the plant developmental, metabolic, and signaling pathways underlying the mediation of beneficial plant-microbe interactions in Populus.

Check out my publications on Google Scholar:

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DShtVyoAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Beyond research, I enjoy gardening, mountain biking, and chess. I also love engaging in scientific outreach. Most notably, I developed and deployed a plant science merit badge workshop at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with the help of 15 graduate student volunteers that I recruited and trained each year. Together, over four years, we helped nearly 200 scouts not only earn the plant science merit badge but develop a genuine interest in the plant sciences. My goal is to help establish similar workshops elsewhere to help plant scientists engage meaningfully with youth and motivate them to pursue a career in plant science.

Please reach out to me if you are interested!

Also, feel free to follow me on Twitter (@KevinCope18) or on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-r-cope/).

My background in Plant Science started at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. I have lived in Iowa for several years and enjoy biking, hunting, and spending time outdoors. I currently work at Corteva Agriscience within the Trait Discovery group. As part of a team, I work to develop, evaluate, and advance new trait leads into our pipeline. A specific part of my role involves evaluation and tracking of new transgenic and edited mutation events. By joining the ASPB Ambassadors program, I hope to be part of their mission to promote ASPB through networking and development of leadership in science.

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