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=**Welcome to Neff Sixth Grade - Manheim Township School District**= = =

Demonstrator: Jennifer Yates, Agricultural Scientist, Monsanto Corporation
==

Biography:
===**Jennifer has been interested in genetics ever since she learned about Mendel’s pea experiments in the 7th grade. She spent her childhood in different states and countries, moving to different army bases where her dad was stationed. She graduated from high school in Huntsville, Alabama, and continued her interest in genetics by getting a bachelor’s degree in this area at the University of Georgia. She moved to Davis, California to get her master’s degree in plant biology, and then back to the University of Georgia for a PhD in plant genetics and breeding. She took a job with Monsanto as a soybean breeder because it allows her to work with genetics and also to work outdoors for part of the year. Jennifer currently lives in Elkton, Maryland with her spouse, a dog, a cat, a Beta fish, and 2 hermit crabs.**===

**Description of Experiment**
===**Jennifer will extract DNA from strawberries. She will use common household ingredients like dishwashing liquid and rubbing alcohol to extract the DNA. Some of the steps are time dependent so she will complete them ahead of time and have the finished step to show the students. During the experiment, she will explain how we use DNA in plant breeding to select the plants that have the genes that we want, like disease resistance and higher yield.**===

**Description of Job**
===Jennifer develop new soybean varieties for farmers to plant. Her job has two seasons to it, the growing season and the off-season. During the growing season they plant the soybean lines in the spring, record notes like flower color and plant height during the summer, and ultimately weigh the seeds of the soybeans to determine their yield in the fall. They plant the soybeans in four places in Maryland, two places in Virginia, and we also send the seed to cooperators in Illinois, Indiana, and Arkansas to plant for us. Jennifer spends a lot of time during the growing season traveling to different sites to look at the soybeans and take notes.=== ===During the non-growing season, they choose the soybean lines with the highest yield to move forward as a soybean variety that farmers can eventually buy and plant on their own farms. While it is too cold to plant soybeans during the winter here, they can plant the soybeans in warmer areas like Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Argentina, and Chile, and in this way they can produce more seed to plant back at our station in the spring. Jennifer spends part of the non-growing season communicating with people in these locations about our soybeans, and she also travels to Argentina and Chile in the spring to choose the best soybean lines to come back to the U.S.===

Resources to learn more:
http://www.monsanto.com/ - Monsanto Corporation Web Pages http://www.khake.com/page39.html - Agricultural Career Guide http://www.agcareers.com/ - Agricultural Careers