I study bacteria and fungi that cause diseases on crop plants. I focus on small grains:  wheat, barley and oats, which are all grown in Minnesota to produce flours and food products. I spend time in the lab identifying and studying the microbes that cause disease. Additionally, I work in both the greenhouse and outside in field plots where we grow plants and study how the diseases develop on the plants. My lab group works with farmers to help test ways to manage the diseases and help them find strategies to grow healthy crops.

Bachelor's degree in Biology, Microbiology or Plant Science. Master's degree in Plant Pathology, Mycology, Microbiology or Plant Science.

At the University, Science technicians right out of school start $36,000-42,000 annually. With experience and time, salaries range from $50,000-$75,000 annually. Salaries can be much higher if doing a similar job for a commercial agricultural company.

Humans need to eat, so agriculture and food production is an important field that is always relevant. With climate change and new farming technologies come new challenges in growing abundant and healthy plants to feed the world's population. Therefore, this is a continued need for scientists to develop creative strategies to address new challenges in agriculture. While science can be a competitive field, I see it as a continually growing field with new directions and many opportunities for careers.

Humans need to eat, so agriculture and food production is an important field that is always relevant. With climate change and new farming technologies come new challenges in growing abundant and healthy plants to feed the world's population. Therefore, this is a continued need for scientists to develop creative strategies to address new challenges in agriculture. While science can be a competitive field, I see it as a continually growing field with new directions and many opportunities for careers.

Science isn't always straightforward and often we have to repeat and refine our experiments many times to get good, reliable data. Technology is also evolving quickly and it can be a challenge to stay up-to-date on all the new methods we can use to answer our questions.

Follow your curiosity. Look for ways that you can begin to be exposed to people who are doing the work your are interested in. Many labs, particularly at the University, have mentoring or internship programs for students in high school or who are undergraduates in college. However, many of us who are excited about our work are happy to share what we do to students of any age who are curious. If there is something you are interested in, research who is doing it and contact them to see if they would let you visit their work and show you what they do. Many of us would be happy to do so.