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Monday, August 22, 2016

Back at Purdue after a great summer at Cornell!

Welcome back, Boilers! It feels good to be back after almost 9 months of being away from studying abroad at University College Dublin to completing my summer internship. I just wanted to share a little bit about my summer--what a fun experience! 

This summer I participated in a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergradutes (NSF REU) at the Boyce Thompson Institue at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Myself and 20 other undergradutes from around the country worked in various labs on projects related to plant genomics in various systems. and I worked in Dr. Mike Scanlon's lab investigating the establishment of leaf polarity in tomato, specifically using a in situ hybridization. I definitely learned a lot of lab technqiues, as well as how to ask good questions and think critically in a research environment. 

The world of Purdue Agronomy is a small one... Former Agronomy Ambassador and Purdue alumnus Daniel Sweeney is now a graduate student in Plant Breeding & Genetics doing his PhD work in small grains breeding. Funny enough, he gave me a tour when I was in high school thinking about attending Purdue! He showed me some of the wheat and barley projects in the department. Wherever you go, you're never too far from a Boilermaker! 

The Boyce Thompson Institute Plant Genomics intern group, Summer 2016

Visiting Dan at Cornell!

I also got to explore the lovely city of Ithaca, with its lakes and gorges and hiking! A lot of us got to travel to Niagara Falls and New York City, as well. Overall, it was a great opportunity offered through NSF, and I highly recommend any current or future students who are interested in research to look into summer REU program offered through the NSF. 

Here is a link to the NSF REU website:


This is the link to the Boyce Thompson Institute Intern page if you want to see more about my research this summer!: 




The summer was great, but I am looking forward to senior year and taking some fun classes!-- History of Horticulture, Bee Biology & Beekeeping, and Plant Breeding. Have a great school year!

--Hailey Edmondson, Plant Genetics & Breeding '17




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