School of Biology and Ecology

SBE Seminar Series: Dr. Jess Gersony, Smith College
2025-04-11 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, 5710 Norman Smith Hall, Orono, ME, 04469, United States
TITLE: Tangled up in blue: Understanding carbon movement in trees during water stress
ABSTRACT: Plants take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and convert it into sugars through photosynthesis. Once carbon dioxide is in the form of sugar, it is then transported all throughout the plant through the “sugar highway” known as the phloem to aid in respiration and growth. Let’s take a moment to imagine if this transportation pathway was slowed, or even blocked: in this scenario there would be a buildup of sugars in the leaves and large deficits in other parts of the plant, which would result in severely limited growth, severely limited photosynthesis and, in the extreme scenario, plant death. Despite this crucial role of the phloem, we currently lack an understanding of how shifts in environmental conditions (e.g. climate change) could alter sugar transportation through the phloem, which is exacerbated by a general dearth of foundational knowledge about phloem functioning. In this talk, Gersony will discuss her research seeking to fill in our knowledge gaps about the sugar highway in the context of water stress, one of the key environmental stressors of climate change. In addition to this scientific content, she will also talk about art-science integration in the context of climate change research.

BIOGRAPHY: Jess Gersony is a plant physiologist, artist, and educator. She currently runs the PLACE (PLant physiology, Art, and Community Engagement) Lab as an Assistant Professor at Smith College. She is passionate about exploring human-planet interactions through both scientific and artistic inquiry, and strives to do this work through an intersectional, social justice lens. The ultimate goals of her work are to increase and deepen our awareness of (and relationship to) the natural world, to further diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM spaces, and to improve our understanding of how plants are responding to climate change. Scientifically, she investigates the physiological processes underpinning how plants interact with the changing climate around them. In parallel, she explores topics related to water and carbon movement, environmental change, time and relationships (between people, other organisms, and places) in her poetic practice. Additionally, she is passionate about re-imagining what STEM classes and research environments can look like and learning about/implementing equity-based pedagogical practices. Lastly, she seeks to support K-12 students in the public school system, collaborate with community college plant biologists and engage with various stakeholders who work with northeastern forests.

Hosted by John Zhang
