The Biology Department’s Plant Diversity course, for example, which previously centered on specimens collected from the wild, will be redesigned for greenhouse-based activities.

 

The greenhouse provides opportunities for collaboration between the Biology Department and the Department of Environmental Studies, said Dr. Martha Carlson Mazur, associate professor and chair of Environmental Studies. “This space affords our students the opportunity to take on projects that cross disciplinary boundaries in a way that builds career readiness for an interdisciplinary world.” 

 

Environmental Science major Leia Staples, a Louisville senior, is already making use of the greenhouse for a plant-growth experiment for her Honors thesis, which is being advised by Jarecek. 

 

“My project deals with looking at how sunscreen pollutants affect cucurbit plants, or the cucumber family,” she said. “Specifically, I am using zucchini, cucumbers and cantaloupe. I am watering the plants with water contaminated with sunscreen and seeing if the sunscreen pollutants affect their growth or flower production, and hopefully how much of the pollutants get into the fruit of the plants. I hope to find out if current levels of pollution should be a concern right now in human food.”