Veronica Sondervan

We are navigating the subway in New York City to attend our first retreat as new PhD students in Biology at New York University in Fall 2019.

In May 2019 I graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a BS in Plant Science. I was grateful to have received numerous academic and research scholarships from the university.

I started working as an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab in September 2015 during my first week as a freshman at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. I continued working there through Fall 2018, and then in 2019 I trained the lab’s new postdoc how to do some of the computing tasks that I had been doing.

I was able to meet up with another 2017 ASPB Conviron Scholar in Ghent, Belgium in the summer of 2018. We were among 21 scholars selected globally by the American Society of Plant Biologists. I was the only US undergraduate selected, along with nineteen graduate students and an undergraduate from the UK.

I traveled to Montreal, Quebec to present a research poster at Plant Biology 2018. While there, I also volunteered at the booth of the American Society of Plant Biologists and attended a Bioinformatics Workshop. I received a University of Minnesota Department of Horticultural Science Travel Award to attend the conference.

I am happy to have completed my junior year at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Summer plans include travel abroad to present a poster and attend a Bioinformatics Workshop at Plant Biology 2018 in Montreal, take a short course on educational games at Utrecht Summer School, and visit friends and relatives in Belgium and the Netherlands.

I presented my UROP poster at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 2018 Undergraduate Research Symposium for a research project conducted in the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab. My poster was selected for year-long display in UMN University Libraries. Here it is shown with data blotted out.

I was selected for a 2017 Summer Research Internship in Plant Pathology (SRIPP) at The Ohio State University. I conducted a research project in the Evolution of Fungal Ecology Lab, and presented the results to the OSU Department of Plant Pathology.

I presented a poster at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 2017 Undergraduate Research Symposium for a research project conducted in the University of Minnesota Plant Metabolomics Lab, and afterward I was recognized with an associate membership in Sigma Xi, the National Science Research Honor Society. I was also one of only two students at my university to receive a New Member Award from the local chapter of Sigma Xi. Later I was co-author of a research paper published in Frontiers in Chemistry related to this project.

I participated in the 2017 March for Science at the Capitol in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Photos taken in the Juniper Networks photo booth at the 2016 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference in Houston, Texas. I was offered a 2017 summer internship at the Juniper office in Amsterdam and was looking forward to using my Dutch and computing skills, but the application for a work visa fell through. Instead, I was able to use my computing skills in a 2017 Summer Research Internship in Plant Pathology at The Ohio State University.

I volunteered with scientists from the USDA-ARS Cereal Disease Lab and the University of Minnesota to staff the Market Science table at the Minneapolis Midtown Farmer's Market one Saturday in September 2016, covering the topic Wild About Wheat (and Other Grains). Taught visitors using interactive exhibits, games and crafts. Photo courtesy of Market Science.

The 2016 EMBO Conference on the Nitrogen Nutrition of Plants was held in Montpellier, France, with over 170 scientists attending from 28 countries. To my knowledge, I was the only undergraduate student in attendance. The conference provided background information useful to my research project on metabolic flux of nitrogen in duckweed, and I received a University of Minnesota Department of Horticultural Science Travel Award.

I visited the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at the University of Texas prior to attending the week-long 2016 TACC Summer Supercomputing Institute on scientific visualization and data analysis, where I won an R coding competition against other attendees. To my knowledge, I was the only undergraduate among approximately 40 graduate students, postdocs, professors and scientists. I learned about the use of UNIX, Linux, Hadoop, Spark, Launcher, Paraview, VisIT, Python and R in high performance computing.

I visited the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) Visualization Laboratory (Vislab) at the University of Texas in March 2016, and learned about large-scale scientific visualization.

I am with Group Leaders of the 2015 World Food Prize Global Youth Institute along with Borlaug Dialogue keynote speaker Chelsea Clinton and World Food Prize representatives. Photo courtesy of the World Food Prize Foundation.

I served as a Group Leader at the 2015 World Food Prize Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa, mentoring and guiding teens throughout their activities at the institute and the Borlaug Dialogue, the premier conference on global agriculture and food security. Photo courtesy of the World Food Prize Foundation.

Group Leaders of the 2015 World Food Prize Global Youth Institute had exclusive meetings with dignitaries and leaders in food security. Photo courtesy of the World Food Prize Foundation.

In May 2015 I graduated from North Springs Charter High School in Atlanta, GA with a Distinguished Dual Magnet Diploma in Science and Visual Arts. Honors included being a National Merit Finalist, a National AP Scholar, and an NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing National Runner-Up and Georgia Winner, as well as winning numerous science awards.

I was recognized for volunteering over 250 hours at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History from 2010-2015. As a Fernbank Ultimate Naturalist (FUN) volunteer, I was competitively selected and trained to staff educational carts and help with special events at the museum in Atlanta, GA. I taught visitors of all ages about fossils, shells, archaeology and science. Photo is courtesy of Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

In 2014 I worked on a research project on wild species from California with a visiting scientist at the USDA-ARS Plant Germplasm Preservation Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado. I was 17 years old and nearly 1,500 miles from home, working during the summer as a USDA Wallace-Carver Fellow. Photo courtesy of the USDA.

As a 2014 USDA Wallace-Carver Fellow, I spent the summer after my junior year of high school working at the USDA-ARS Plant Germplasm Preservation Research Unit in Fort Collins, Colorado. I conducted over 100 germination tests to study seed longevity, wild species and recalcitrant seeds. Photo courtesy of the USDA and World Food Prize Foundation.

I met with Krysta Harden, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, while attending the USDA Washington Leadership Symposium for Wallace-Carver Fellows in 2014. Photo courtesy of the USDA and World Food Prize Foundation.

Wallace-Carver Fellows are shown listening to U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Krysta Harden as part of the 2014 USDA Washington Leadership Symposium. During the four-day symposium, we participated in a series of high-level briefings, group activities and dinner discussions with key government officials, and toured the USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center -- the largest agricultural research complex in the world -- plus the U.S. Botanic Garden, National Agricultural Library and other facilities. We also attended the World Food Prize Laureate Announcement Ceremony featuring Hon. John Kerry, Secretary of State. Photo courtesy of the USDA and World Food Prize Foundation.

I was one of four high school students selected as a 2014 USDA Wallace-Carver Fellow along with 29 undergraduates. Here we are shown gathered in Washington, DC with Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn and a statue of Norman Borlaug, former winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to solving world hunger through plant science research. Borlaug was a graduate of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities where I later obtained a bachelor’s degree in plant science. Photo courtesy of the World Food Prize Foundation.

As a USDA Wallace-Carver Fellow, I was able to attend the 2014 World Food Prize Laureate Announcement Ceremony with Secretary of State John Kerry and other government leaders and scientists.

I was one of approximately 150 students from around the world selected as a Delegate to the 2013 World Food Prize Global Youth Institute. I was selected based on a research paper I wrote titled Indonesia: Concerns Regarding Corruption in Agriculture and the Way Forward. Here I am shown with leaders of the World Food Prize Foundation and the 2013 World Food Prize Laureates: Mary-Dell Chilton, Founder and Distinguished Fellow of Syngenta Biotechnology; Marc Van Montagu, Founder and Chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach at Ghent University in Belgium; and Robert T. Fraley, the Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Monsanto (seated on the front row 6th, 7th and 8th from left). Photo courtesy of the World Food Prize Foundation.

Delegates to the 2013 World Food Prize Global Youth Institute in Des Moines, Iowa were treated to a speech on geothermal energy by Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, the President of Iceland. We met many dignitaries and scientists throughout the event and attended the Borlaug Dialogue, the premier conference on global agriculture and food security. Photo courtesy of the World Food Prize Foundation.

I founded the Potcake Research and Evaluation Study (Potcake EARS) at age 14 to research the behavior of stray potcake dogs rescued from the Bahamas and adopted as pets, with the theory that they would share common traits due to isolated gene pools on the islands. The study lasted from 2011-2015, and had 547 canine participants from across the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and Germany. Results are at potcakeears.com. Shown is a photo by Royal Potcake Rescue that was featured in an article on my research in the spring 2012 issue of Abaco Life magazine. I had previously received a 2010 U.S. President’s Volunteer Service Award for volunteering 75 hours with Royal Potcake Rescue.

Here I am at age 13 giving my first scientific presentation in front of a large audience at the 2010 Mathematics, Science & Technology at Michigan State University summer program for academically talented students. I attended courses on Genetics & Biotechnology and Nuclear Astrophysics during the residential program. I bioengineered E-coli with a florescent jellyfish gene, separated DNA with electrophoresis, observed PCR and operation of a biolistics gun, prepared a karyotype, and experimented with cosmic ray detectors and spectroscopes.