Rachel Penczykowski

she/her
Assistant Professor of Biology
Plant Disease Team

How did you get here? What brought you to Tyson?

I would say Tyson was a major attractor to coming to WashU for a faculty position in the first place. It was a part of the university that had been on my radar before I even applied to WashU. During the interview stage, I got to come out here for a tour and see the space and meet some of the people. It was pretty clear that it was this very special community and special place. That's only been more and more obvious as I've spent time here over the years. It's become an increasingly special place for some of the more recent, very thoughtful work that has gone into making it a safe place, an inclusive and welcoming place, and a fun place.

What do you like about running a team?

I especially like when mentees identify with an independent project focus that speaks to them. Either they come up with an idea completely themselves, or we chat about a variety of different options and they identify one that sounds good to them. As we get into it and talk about it, the real excitement and enthusiasm that we both feel is pretty special and magical. Sometimes students choose to focus on research questions or ideas that I've thought about before but haven't had the capacity to undertake. In those cases, it's very exciting that somebody's gonna lead the way and actually figure out the answer. Other times students decide to ask research questions that had never even occurred to me, but are really interesting. It's so exciting to have all these bright people working together. Those are the real highlights of being a mentor, having those moments where you're excited and they're excited.

Why did you choose to research Plantago?

I started working with Plantago and powdery mildew as a postdoc. My PhD work was in an aquatic disease system studying zooplankton and their fungal parasites in freshwater lakes. I knew towards the end of my PhD that I wanted to continue doing science, but I wanted to try doing disease ecology in a different type of taxonomic system. It just so happened that there was a postdoc opening in a lab in Helsinki, Finland with a group that studies Plantago and powdery mildew. It sounded like a really neat project and a neat group of people. I was up for moving far away. I totally fell in love with the system there and the same plants grow here. So the work that we're doing here is related but on a different spatial scale and involves a few additional Plantago and mildew species. It's been a really interesting build on the work that I did in Helsinki.

What is your favorite spot at Tyson?

My least favorite spot is the hoop house in the summer. [Laughs.] We've really avoided going in there this year. I like our lab space and the research garden. That's where I've spent the most time. But also I like those spaces because they're not very ticky and they're not very rugged.