Plantae Presents – Rooted in Balance: Building Healthy Work-Life Balance as a Plant Scientist
Plantae Presents – Rooted in Balance: Building Healthy Work-Life Balance as a Plant Scientist
Featuring Kevin Cope, Jessica Erickson, Gnanesh Nanjappa, and Vojtěch Schmidt
When: Thursday, October 23, 2025, at
6:00 AM PDT | 9:00 AM EDT | 2:00 PM BST | 9:00 PM Beijing
About this Webinar
Similar to any other job in the world, the life of a plant scientist can be stressful. From experiments not working correctly, to late-night writing, early mornings for planting, and working on days off because plants don’t have a concept of weekends and holidays, scientists run the risk of forgetting to live a life.
In this webinar, we have invited plant scientists studying different topical areas and who are at different stages of their careers to discuss how to build a healthy work-life balance while working as a plant scientist.
Hosted by the 2025 Plantae Fellows.
SPEAKERS
Kevin Cope
Dr. Kevin Cope is a molecular plant physiologist who specializes in elucidating molecular mechanisms that control beneficial plant-microbe interactions. He currently works at Bayer Crop Science as a Plant Physiology Scientist II. In that role, he evaluates microbes for their ability to improve crop growth in controlled environment trials. Beyond research, he also serves as a member of the APSB Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee and has organized workshops, concurrent symposia, and events at annual ASPB conferences that help young scientists prepare for and chart their future career path. Outside of work, he enjoys several hobbies, including gardening, weightlifting, cycling, chess, soccer, and spending time outdoors with his wife and three kids.
Jessica Erickson
Dr. Jessica Erickson is originally from a small, conservative, Canadian town tucked between the Rocky Mountains and the prairies. She discovered a passion for plant genetics and cell biology during her undergraduate degree and MSc at the nearby University of Lethbridge. After some unexpected career detours, she ended up in Halle, Germany where she got hooked on a PhD project exploring the mechanisms behind chloroplast shape changes in plants under stress. A transition to plant pathology during her postdoc opened up exciting new research directions, though the path was marked by the typical uncertainties of academic life. She recently secured a position at the Center for Plant Molecular Biology in Tübingen, where she now leads the Bacterial Apoplast Modulators (BAM!) group. Navigating ambitious research goals while supporting her partner’s scientific career and raising their child has been an ongoing exercise in creative problem-solving and finding what works for their family.
Gnanesh Nanjappa
Dr. Gnanesh Nanjappa is currently serving as Senior Scientist and Head at Indian Council of Agricultural Research JSS Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Suttur, Mysuru, India. He previously held the position of professor and dean at the Sampoorna International Institute of Agricultural Science and Horticultural Technology under the University of Mysore. He earned his Ph.D. in Genetics and Plant Breeding from the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Hyderabad, and the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. With several years of research experience, Dr Gnanesh has made significant contributions in the areas of germplasm resource management, crop genomics, and disease-resistance breeding. He is a recipient of the prestigious SERB Ramanujan Fellowship and was awarded a Visiting Fellowship by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. During his tenure at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Winnipeg, he developed cost-effective, allele-specific diagnostic markers for oat crown rust resistance genes. His current interests span plant genomics, genome survey, SNP discovery, and linkage mapping. He is also deeply involved in agricultural training and extension activities, focusing on field demonstrations, precision farming, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices to farmers. He holds an honorary position as a Professor of Practice in the Department of Natural Sciences at Adichunchanagiri University and also serves as Vice President of the Institute of Agricultural Technology, Mysore. Dr. Gnanesh has made notable scholarly contributions, including the editing of six books, such as Mulberry Genome and Sustainable Series on Crop Improvement, Production and Protection, and has published several research articles and chapters with an index of 23.
Vojtěch Schmidt
Vojtěch Schmidt is a PhD student at the Institute of Experimental Botany in Prague, Czech Republic. He is currently in the final stages of his PhD where studied the origins of auxin evolution by studying the role of auxin in streptophyte algae. Outside of work he is an award winning landscape photographer. He loves to travel to the remote parts of the world to capture the most stunning nature moments. Besides photography he is a drummer in a successful heavy metal Czech band.
MODERATORS
Krishna Chaitanya Alamuru
Krishna is a PhD candidate at the Centre for Crop Health based at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. His research focuses on disease resistance in mungbean, combining genome-wide association studies (GWAS), host range evaluation, and pathotyping of Curtobacterium flaccumfaciens and powdery mildew pathogens. He integrates field trials, controlled-environment experiments, and molecular diagnostics to identify resistance loci and support breeding efforts through genomics. He is a Plantae Fellow with the American Society of Plant Biologists and co-leads Plantgenomia, an international initiative dedicated to fostering collaboration and knowledge exchange in plant science. Krishna enjoys traveling, gardening, and connecting with nature, which continuously fuel his curiosity and passion for agricultural research. X: @alamuru_krishna | LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/alamuru02.
Katarina Kurtović
Katarina is a Postdoctoral fellow in the group of Roman Sobotka at Centre Algatech, Institute of Microbiology, Czech Republic. She recently obtained her PhD at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in Prague. There, she focused on plant evo-devo by studying the role of auxin and characterization of PIN auxin efflux carriers in streptophyte alga Chara braunii. She now studies High light inducible proteins (Hlips) in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803 and explores the reprogramming of regulatory pathways of Synechocystis to improve the photosynthesis efficiency. Outside of the lab she teaches yoga, enjoys hiking, running, and a good book with a cup of tea and her sleepy senior cat. X: @kat_kurtovic | Bluesky: @katarinakurtovic.bsky.social.
Mae Antonette Mercado
Mae is a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Dr. Tracy Lawson at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she is studying regulators of stomata for water-use efficiency. She finished her PhD last August 2025, studying key factors in photosynthesis evolution in wild grasses and heat stress tolerance in maize. She is also the Head of Science Communication at the American Society of Plant Biologists-Early Career Plant Scientists (ASPB-ECPS) Section. Outside work, she likes to do brush pen calligraphy, baking, playing the ukulele, and singing. X: @mae_mercadow | Bluesky: @maemercado.bsky.social.
Xavier Ozowara
Xavier is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech. He is interested in the factors that shape secondary metabolism in fruit. For his dissertation, he is investigating the effects of management systems, regional climate, pests, and pathogens on apple and strawberry phenolic composition and diversity. Email: [email protected].
