My Third Week at CIMMYT!

 My third week at CIMMYT!

This week we hosted the dialogue NEXT event so there was a lot to experience and do! This was a big day and a half convention where scientists, founders, researchers, politicians, and more came together to discuss food insecurities and solutions. This event took place on July 10th and 11th here at CIMMYT, who hosted the event this year. On the first day I got to listen to a lot of speakers who discussed a lot of agriculturally-related topics, including tories from farmers in other countries! All of the food from this event was also amazing, and a nice changeup from the typical cafeteria food. 

On the first day I ate breakfast with a scientist that works in Mexico City, a college student here in Mexico, and a Maize breeder from here at CIMMYT. Then we listened to a few panels, the director general of CIMMYT, the Chief Operating Officer of the World Food Prize, Dr. Cary Fowler, a few farmers, and many other people. After lunch we listened  to some more farmers, panels, researchers, organizations, politicians and more. The topics focussed on climate change, food demand, crop development, corn and wheat, and sustainable agriculture as well as small-holder farmers. After the lectures, I went on an immersion tour that focussed on making machinery more available to small holder farmers. Then I attended a reception and ate supper with different people involved at the World Food Prize Foundation. Afterwards I went out into Texcoco with a past intern to get tacos which were amazing!

The second day of the convention was only a half day. I went into the labs prior to the start of the programming to check on the germination tests and spray water on them. This morning, we listened to a few more panels, farmers, a professor from Harvard, politicians, scientists, organizations, founders, and directors from different CIMMYT programs. There was also a panel about the legacies of change makers where we got to hear from Jeanie Borlaug, Norman Borlaug's daughter, Marie R Gomez, the son of Marte R Gomez, and Sara Boettiger, the granddaughter of President Franklin D Roosevelt. It was so interesting to hear more in depth and personal stories about these individuals and to understand more about the importance of legacy through their descendants. I also liked the panel where different directors of CIMMYT programs explained what their departments do and the goals they are working towards. After the event, I ate lunch with some scientists from Africa and had an interview over Zoom. The interview was to discuss a position in the Seed Science Center at Iowa State University where I could continue my work while also exploring a new position which I'm excited about! Then I worked on research in the labs for a few more hours before taking another tour of the germ plasm bank and heading home. I feel so fortunate and lucky that I got to attend this convention and that it happened while I was here in Mexico!

Outside of this event, I also spent a lot of time in the lab and working with the Videometer. On Tuesday we checked our germination tests from last week and recorded the results. Then we tested the moisture and counted 100-seed samples for about 36 more seed types. We analyzed six of these in the Videometer by separating the seeds from one sample into three Petri dishes. Then we scanned each Petri dish, removed the background, removed foreign material images, and saved the information into an excel sheet on a computer. After this we did accelerated aging for all 36 samples and during the days of the convention I went in prior to the programming to check on these samples and alter them as needed. With the germination tests that we already analyzed, we rewrapped the ungerminated seeds and put them back for three more days of germination to see if that had any effect. On Friday we reanalyzed these tests and found that many more seeds had germinated. Then we did germination testing for all of the other samples we prepared at the beginning of the week. This weekend I need to go in and water the samples. I'm loving this process so far and can't wait to keep doing more!