Paula L. Email & Phone Number

Co- Sponsor the Brave Science Club- mentored students on the location, design and building of the raised bed on school grounds. I helped organized the our first and only fundraising event at the school by hosting a plant sale. Students grew the plants and we raised over $300 at the plant sale. Our club also received a grant of $400 from Texas Native Plant Society to start our first pollinator garden. I also teach 118 students concepts of environmental sciences including, Ecology, Geology, Biogeochemistry, Sustainable Agriculture, Population Dynamics, and Energy Conservation.

Brownsville, Texas Area

Under the direction of Dr. Christopher Gabler Dept. of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sci.· Developed research project studying germination methods for 3 native Thornscrub plant species, Ebony, Mexican Olive and Colima; conducted sulfuric acid and hormone treatments aimed breaking seed dormancy. My research prompted the establishment of the UTRGV Native Plant Nursery. · Collaboration and International Networking- collaborated with Kimberly Wahl-Villarreal at USFWS regarding native plant species and their restoration efforts at La Sal Del Ray; worked with members of Land Life Company an international organization from the Netherlands motivated to restore various international forests including in the Thornscrub forests Rio Grande Valley.· Assisted fellow graduate students with data collection and analyzing- viewed 1000s of photos for various animal life for corridor data; aided fellow in root extraction and assessment of wetland crops, helped develop protocol and species selection for vertical garden. · Sustainably maintained the raised beds at the Brownsville Community Research Garden-planted and maintained 12 raised beds with various fruits and vegetables. · Aided in the building of the greenhouse located at the Community Research Garden including operating drills and saws and other machinery.

Maintained by pruning, transplanting, fertilizing. Assisted customers with all of their DIY garden projects and all types of gardening needs. Answered all questions including issues found in the garden.

College Station-Bryan Area

· Technical duties in field environment – experienced with planting (transplanting peat pellets and direct seeding with plot planter), selfing and crossing pollination methods in a dioecious plant with perfect flowers, harvesting boll samples (by hand and mechanically with a cotton picker), ginning, delinting, and chemical treatment of seed samples with fungicide; directly involved in approximately 200 plots in breeding nursery as well as approximately 400 plots in yield trial fields; oversees up to 7 student workers assisting in research activities · Technical duties in greenhouse environment – managed the growth and maintenance of approximately 300 wild-type cotton plants in the greenhouse; established new greenhouse management protocol for the treatment of nutrient deficiency and disease along with pest control; EPA-certified and experienced applying pesticides (AzaMax, Marathon and Decathalon; maintained greenhouse sterilization protocol using antiseptics and disinfectants (Zerotol); experienced with automated (fertigation) and manual techniques and calculations to apply N-P-K for the promotion of vegetative growth or flowering.Tested an experimental mechanical delinting system for cotton seeds in collaboration with the USDA-ARS developer (Dr. Greg Holt) by designing experiments, recording weights, documenting with photographs, interpreting and writing a summary of test results along with suggestions for improvement.

Bryan/College Station, Texas Area

· Molecular biology techniques- performed approximately 700 cotton genomic DNA extractions per year by individual tubes and approximately 50 96-well plate PCR experiments per year dependent upon research priorities; prepped PCR plates for capillary electrophoresis and used gel electrophoresis for qualification of DNA purity.· Performed technical duties in laboratory environment – molecular biology-related activities; performed transgenic testing using ELISA-based test strips in seed and leaf samples annually from the US National Cotton Germplasm Collection research projects; applied nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) testing; experience with germination testing using agar media and rag-doll techniques.· Laboratory documentation and analysis -organized documents recorded data acquired from samples in the laboratory, field, and greenhouse environments using PC computers and MS Office software (Word and Excel); capable of printing labels, plastic plant tags and stakes with or without barcodes using MS Word mail merge, Maestro, and BarTender software.· Worked under the direction of an experienced technician, taking professional high-quality images of plant parts (stems, leaves, flowers, green bolls, open bolls, and fuzzy seeds) for a ‘digital herbarium’ forming core collections within the US National Cotton Germplasm Collection.

Bryan/College Station, Texas Area

Aid customers in their shopping experience. Cashier.

Masters Of Science, Agriculture And Environmental Sustainability Studies

Researched methods to break seed dormancy in native tree species for reforestation efforts.

Bachelor'S Of Science, Biomedical Sciences And Horticulture

Researched plant microbial interactions of pseudomonads and their ability to combat fungi within a plant rhizosphere.