Postdoctoral researcher continues cycle of mentorship for future plant scientists

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Being a plant scientist was never on Joel Swift’s radar before college.

“No one in my family is in science,” Swift said. “You don't ever think of these jobs as being a possibility at all.”

Swift earned his doctorate in biology from St. Louis University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Missouri. But his interest in plant research was piqued during his pursuit of an associate’s degree at State Fair Community College, where he enrolled in a chemistry class.

“I had an independent research project where I was able to tissue culture plants, working on some carnivorous plants,” he said. “I tried out a few methods and tried to see if I could tweak some of them to have better performance. Wish I could say that the experiment went stunningly; it didn't — lots of mold, lots of fungus, lots of microbes. I didn't really think about it at the time, but it kind of connects back to what I'm doing now.”

After graduate school, Swift took a postdoctoral research position in the Wagner Lab at the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research. There he evaluated the connection between plants, their microbiomes, and how the two fared during drought conditions — research that has potential benefits to agriculture. Now he has a second postdoctoral position funded by the National Science Foundation’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology program that allows him to complete independent research for three years.

Reflecting on earlier parts of his academic career, Swift noted that a lot of students find research to be intimidating, especially microscopy. Since microscopic structures look much different from macroscopic ones, students often lack analogies and can have difficulty conceptualizing this new information. Research mentors and encouragement from instructors can make a difference in whether someone moves through that initial unfamiliarity. For Swift, that mentor was State Fair Community College instructor Jack Hayes.

“I think that that's going to be a common theme for anybody in sciences,” Swift said. “There are going to be these people along the way who are like stepping stones who kind of push you to do something more, or consider something that you really haven't.”

While Swift is primarily preparing for a research-oriented career after his postdoctoral position, he still enjoys working with students in the Wagner Lab. He attributes the number of undergraduates in research to a combination of more research opportunities for students at a major research university and a culture of encouraging students at all levels to pursue research.

“It's been nice here at KU being able to work with a ton of really talented undergraduates of all different backgrounds — some pre-med, some going into pharmacy, some going into USDA work. Others are interested in biotechnology,” Swift said.

“You can see it in this building: There are posters on the walls of all these things that highlight undergraduate research and what labs are doing. Those kinds of things really make it easier for somebody to say, ‘I think I could do this because I see other people who are a junior, a sophomore — they're doing research. They're working on something that sounds really cool. They're getting to go to cool places.’ I think that KU more so than other institutions, especially recently, seems to have been highlighting undergraduate research more.”