How do microbes disperse? Dr Bala Chaudhary
Microbes are everywhere, but how do they get there? Ecologist Dr Bala Chaudhary explains how tiny fungi spread.
Recorded at Ada Lovelace Day Live at The IET on 8 October 2019.
How do microbes move around the environment? There are many beneficial microbes that are essential to plant health, including mycorrhizal fungi which live inside plant roots and help them take up nutrients and minerals from the soil. The symbiosis between mycorrhizae and plants is one of the most common in the world, but how did these microbes get to be everywhere?
Dr Bala Chaudhary
Dr Bala Chaudhary is a scientist and professor of ecology in the Department of Environmental Science and Studies at DePaul University in Chicago. She studies how plants, soil, and microbes interact in an effort to solve global environmental problems like biodiversity loss and climate change. Dr Chaudhary is a recipient of the United States National Science Foundation CAREER Award — considered among the nation’s most prestigious awards for early-career faculty. Prior to academia, she worked as an environmental consultant in Los Angeles designing habitat mitigation plans for endangered species. She has a PhD and Master’s from Northern Arizona University and a Bachelor’s from the University of Chicago. Photo by Justina Lee.
Twitter: @BalaChaudhary
Web: balachaudhary.com
About Ada Lovelace Day
Ada Lovelace Day is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths which aims to increase the profile of women in STEM and create new role models for both girls and women studying or working in STEM.
Ada Lovelace Day Live 2023 was held at the Royal Institution on Tuesday 10 October. It was hosted by comedian Helen Arney, and featured Prof Jennifer Rohn, head of the Centre for Urological Biology UCL; Dr Azza Eltraify, senior software engineer at Ultracell Networks Ltd; Dr Sophie Carr, mathematician, Bays Consulting Ltd; Dr Aarathi Prasad, writer, broadcaster, and geneticist; Dr Anjana Khatwa, Earth scientist and presenter; Dr Antonia Pontiki, biomedical engineer at King’s College London; and Rosie Curran Crawley, presenter at L’Oreal Young Scientist Centre.
About The IET
The IET is one of the world’s leading professional societies for the engineering and technology community. The IET provides a global knowledge network to facilitate the exchange of ideas and promote the positive role of science, engineering and technology in the world.