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Veder J. Garcia
Veder Garcia's love of flora grew from a seed planted early and nurtured during the many summers he spent as a child on his grandparents' farm in El Salvador. "I didn't know at the time that plants were living organisms," he recalled, " and I would wonder, How did that orange come out of that little branch, or why do we have to water the fruit trees?"
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Veder J. Garcia
University of Maryland
College Park MD
Current Institution:
University of California, Berkeley,
Berkeley, CA
Photo: Barbara Ries
A high-resolution photograph is available on request.
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It wasn't until Garcia came to the United States at the age of 17 that he discovered that there are scientists who spend their whole lives investigating how plants function, develop, and reproduce. The simple questions he'd asked himself as a child blossomed into a passionate determination to pursue a career in plant biology.
As an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, he conducted an independent thesis project investigating the effects of the hormone auxin on the development of Charales, an order of green algae that is the closest relative of land plants. This research earned him departmental honors in cell biology and molecular genetics and designation as 2006 Young Botanist of the Year by the Botanical Society of America, an annual award recognizing outstanding graduating seniors in the plant sciences.
Garcia spent a summer in the lab of Daphne Preuss, a former HHMI investigator at the University of Chicago, as a participant in HHMI's Exceptional Research Opportunities Program (EXROP), which offers research experiences for disadvantaged and minority undergraduates. He helped conduct a large-scale genetic screen to identify the genes required for formation of exine, the tough, protective outer layer of pollen grains.
Anya Dobritsa, a postdoctoral researcher in Preuss's lab who supervised Garcia, was particularly impressed by his willingness to ask questions. "Also," said Dobritsa, "he spent many long hours sitting over the microscope, and as a result discovered several interesting mutants that the lab is currently characterizing."
Garcia is the first in his family to obtain a college degree. He hopes his success will inspire his younger relatives who are still living in El Salvador to seek more education. Now a graduate student in plant biology at the University of California, Berkeley, Garcia also is concerned about the natural resources in his country, and he'd like to work with Salvadoran biology professors to improve environmental education. "I would like to help my family and my country, and also I want to contribute to science. I want to be part of the next generation who, for sure, will make great discoveries."
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