For Jayna Burch, an unexpected job opportunity during her first week of college helped set the course for her future.
Now entering her third year at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in Tifton, Georgia, Burch is studying general agriculture with a focus on crop and soil science. Her research interests, however, have increasingly centered on plant pathology and microbiology.
“I needed a job to help support myself through my studies,” Burch said. “During my first week at school, I was asking around about jobs in the area pertaining to my interests.”
That search led her to a plant pathology lab, where she found a mentor who helped her realize that research was something she wanted to pursue.
Since then, Burch has gained experience working on a variety of plant pathology projects. One of her favorites involved bacterial leaf spot of tomato, where she used molecular tools to identify bacterial strains isolated from symptomatic tomato tissues.
The experience also taught her one of the most important lessons she has carried into her research at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI): sometimes, the best thing a scientist can do is slow down.
“I did PCRs daily and probably messed up at least once or twice a week when I first started,” Burch said. “I felt like I was working too slowly and tried to speed up to match the output from my coworkers.”
Eventually, she learned that research is not a race.
“I have carried those mistakes and what I learned from them with me ever since,” she said. “I have to tell myself to slow down both in the lab and in my personal life.”
When Burch began looking for an REU opportunity, BTI’s Plant Genomics REU Program, hosted in partnership with Cornell University, immediately stood out.
She was drawn to BTI’s history and its role in supporting influential research, but just as importantly, she was intrigued by the sense of community she saw within the institute.
“I wanted to meet like-minded people who had similar research interests, whether they were cohort peers or BTI faculty,” she said.
She found exactly that.
Her first few days at BTI were also an introduction to a research environment unlike anything she had experienced before.
“My first few days at BTI were a little overwhelming, but in a good way,” Burch said. “There were so many luxuries that I hadn’t imagined there would be.”
She quickly noticed differences between her home institution and BTI, including having dedicated support staff to help facilitate research, such as washing laboratory glassware.
“It’s been a privilege being at BTI and getting to see the ways that the work here compares and contrasts to my home institution,” she said.
Her research project this summer presented a different kind of challenge. Much of the work focused on a topic she had not previously studied, leaving her nervous that she had not yet taken the courses she needed to prepare.
Fortunately, her mentors helped ease that transition.
“They were very welcoming and prepared to receive me in their lab,” Burch said. “They gave me all the background information that I needed to succeed this summer.”
And whenever she had a question, they were there to help.
“And I had a LOT of questions,” she added.
Burch also took responsibility for her own learning, conducting additional research outside the lab to better understand her project. That preparation became particularly valuable when it was time to present her work at the end of the summer.
Her experiences at BTI extended beyond research, too. One of her favorite parts of the REU was participating in science communication activities designed to help students think about how science can be shared with different audiences.
For a Sciencenter outreach activity, Burch and her fellow REU students developed a lesson introducing children to DNA using Twizzlers and marshmallows.
“It was challenging finding ways to describe DNA to someone who is just learning the life sciences,” she said. “But seeing their awe at how they were made of DNA was as exciting as they thought the activity was!.”
For Burch, those moments demonstrated why science communication matters.
“I hope BTI continues to do events like that to find the next generation of scientists,” she said.
Just as meaningful as the formal activities were the connections she made with her fellow REU students. The cohort quickly became a community, both inside and outside the lab.
“Everyone was kind, welcoming, and just fun to be around,” Burch said.
Group trivia sessions and game nights in the dorm became some of her favorite memories, giving students a chance to relax and get to know one another beyond their research projects. Shared meals around Ithaca added to the experience, with Collegetown Bagels and Moosewood among her favorites.
For Burch, the summer has been about more than gaining new research experience. It has reinforced the importance of patience, curiosity, and community in science.
From learning to slow down in the laboratory to stepping into an unfamiliar research area, she has embraced the challenges that come with becoming a scientist.
And along the way, she has found something she was hoping to discover when she first applied to BTI: a community of people who share her excitement about understanding plants and using science to solve problems.
