We arrived at the Botanic Garden on Monday and had a tour of the labs and a discussion with Stuart to introduce us to the Echinacea Project. We began our work by cleaning 82 Echinacea angustifolia heads, separating the top 30 achenes and the bottom 30 achenes. The rest of the achenes were labeled as mid or unknown (if we did not know the location the achenes came from). Once the top and bottom achenes were separated out, we affixed them to sheets in preparation to x-ray.
Graduate students and post docs shared information on their research and advice on graduate school options. Lynnaun introduced us to his graduate research involving fungus on orchid roots. Evelyn discussed her path to working at the Chicago Botanic Garden as a post doc researcher, including her PhD research on ferns and what type of work is available after getting a PhD. Rob shared his graduate research on the effect of buckthorn invasion in oak savannas on the ectomycorrhizal community. One evening after our work at the gardens, we attended a journal club for the graduate students who work in the labs at the Botanic Garden and attend Northwestern University. Jessa discussed with us her time spent after under-grad working in an arboretum and how that led to her involvement in graduate research here at the Botanic Garden.
Looking forward to next week!
– Emma and Jocelyn
