Profile

• Time Zone

  Pacific

  
  
• Organization

  Humboldt State University

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am a paleobotanist, therefore I study the evolution of plants- how they have changed and adapted over time. I do this by studying and characterizing the anatomy of living plants and fossil plants.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  When and why did you decide to go into a science career?

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

  I first fell in love with biology when I was a freshman in high school when I learned about the intricate and beautiful process of photosynthesis. There was no turning back from there. I had an interest in plants and a curiosity about the natural world and the biology that commands it. With the help of a few extremely influential advisors I can now call myself a botanist.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  Do you have advice for students about preparing for a science career?

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

  The most important thing about being successful in science is having curiosity. With an active curiosity in the way science works, everything else will fall into place - with lots of failures in between, that is. In the end, an active curiosity and embracing failure are the key things to keep in mind when preparing for a science career.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is tough about being a scientist?

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

  The toughest component of being a young scientist is being overwhelmed by the wealth of information available out there. When you are beginning in a field, it seems like there is no possible way to learn everything. This can be scary and extremely humbling. However, I've come to realize that you must have patience and trust that you will do the best job you can.

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

  1

  
  

Recent Posts

Whipper Snappers (Team 3) Kelly Pfeiler Apr 26, 2019

One more thing: Can you guys fill out the blue boxes above? Just click the Edit Project button and you can fill in all the parts. 

Thanks for all of your hard work!

Kelly

Whipper Snappers (Team 3) Kelly Pfeiler Apr 26, 2019

Hi team, 

Your results look awesome! I am hoping that you will be able to put some good graphs together! Thanks for being such a great group. It was so fun to watch your experiment this Spring. Please let me know if you have any more…

more

Hi team, 

Your results look awesome! I am hoping that you will be able to put some good graphs together! Thanks for being such a great group. It was so fun to watch your experiment this Spring. Please let me know if you have any more questions!

Kelly

The Lil Soyer Girls Kelly Pfeiler Apr 26, 2019

How are things going? Have you been able to collect some data? Are you thinking about how you might want to visualize your results?

Kelly