Imeña Valdes

Current Position
M.Sc Student, Plant Biology & Conservation Program, Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden

Research Interests
Plant-animal interactions, restoration ecology, and seed biology

BSA Service
BSA Member (2015 - ); PLANTS Program Mentor (2017 & 2018)

Other Service
PBC Science Communication Lead, Northwestern University (2020 - ); REU Mentor, Chicago Botanic Garden (2019 & 2020); College First Mentor, Chicago Botanic Garden (2017)

Statement of Interest
At the discretion of my undergrad advisor, I applied for the PLANTS program in 2015. I was at a crossroads in my academic career attempting to balance two majors that had little overlap. After attending BSA 2015, I left increasingly more motivated to focus on the plant sciences. I received the Young Botanist of the Year award in 2016 and have attended the conferences in 2017 and 2018. At both I served as a mentor in the PLANTS program with hopes to show other undergraduates the value of pursuing plant sciences and introduce them to all the resources BSA has to offer. Serving as Student Representative would allow me to connect with more students in order to introduce them to all the support BSA provides to prospective plant scientists, like it has for me.

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