Brooke Bouwens is a senior biology-chemistry major with a minor in Spanish at Manchester University. She’s been participating in a Summer Research Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research is in applied phenotyping technology with funding by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Brooke works in the Schnable Lab with a mentor who helped create her research project. She studies the heterosis of hybrid maize samples and their inbred parents. Day to day, she uses different instruments in the field and in the lab to measure the ground truths of the leaf samples and their hyperspectral measurements. Her role includes analyzing the data with Python and Microsoft Excel by comparing the hybrid and inbred traits to see if there is a correlation. Brooke has learned about the inner workings of research and gained more confidence in herself and her career plans.
“This opportunity has given me connections with peers and faculty who will support and guide me to my goals,” Brooke says.
While applying to summer programs, professors, friends, and teammates supported her through the process. Brooke plans to apply to medical school to become a dermatologist.
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