Selah Dorn

Undergraduate student

Growing up in California meant I was intimately aware of the effects of climate change from a young age–extreme drought defined my life, from perpetually dying vegetation to sky-high water bills. I grew up outside, my life defined by the rope swing tied above Permanente Creek, by freshly picked wild blackberries and peach ice lollies made with fruit from trees I grew. 

However, I grew up understanding that this environment I loved was fragile, and I wanted to do something about it. The ability of plants to grow and change seemed magical growing up, and my old fascination has grown into a desire to understand how they adapt at the molecular level.

I am particularly interested in the potential to genetically modify plants to be more robustly equipped to deal with our changing climate, especially drought conditions. I am curious how plants generate rapid, broad responses to environmental change–responses that involve many genes–and how these responses are coordinated within the genome. I hope to eventually contribute to an understanding of how we could modify these larger responses at a higher level, so as to ensure every part of a plant is able to thrive in extreme conditions.