In this series "small world", I will attempt to bridge the massive cultural and geographic divide readers see in the "culture shock" series with facets that can be used to relate to one another. I will post similarities we share that can be used to show that even a world away, some things are still familiar to us.
First, let's go to the beginning. No, not when I was born. My parents torment me enough about my conception and stories of how much fun they had before children. We're only going back 5 years (has it really been 5 years already?!). Fall 2010, I'm a bright young student at Cornell and I'm sitting in PLPA 3010, introductory plant pathology taught by Dr. Bill Fry. He's a passionate man who loves teaching and is considered a world-renowned expert on Phytophthora infestans. One of the required texts in "Plant Pathology" by George N. Agrios. To anyone who is in this field or anyone who has taken an introductory plant pathology course, you know that this becomes like a Bible to you (especially during exam time). It's comprehensive (nearly exhaustive) and it's a great reference for anyone in the field of agriculture.
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| Bonus points if you can identify the pathogen on the cover |
After graduation, I spent a few years working at various institutions including University of Delaware and the University of Maryland. I know several of my colleagues had it on their shelf for reference. I remember referring to this same book for reference. Fast forward to two years ago (have I seriously been in graduate school for two years?!), that book still lives on my office shelf and has been an important citation in my literature review. Interesting fact, Dr. Agrios was a professor at UF and started the plant medicine program, which has connected me with so many wonderful people that I would otherwise never interact with (yes, even though I give certain DPM students crap, they're still wonderful).
During my tour of JAAS today, I was orienting myself to where everyone's office is. This will become useful for the first week of actual lab-work. I need to know where my English-speaking labmates are so I can bug them when I can't find something. I'm sitting in Dr. Ren's office chatting with him and I notice all these books on the desk behind his. He mentioned that they were Dr. Yang's, and since he's now moved into an administrative position, he hasn't had a chance to clean them out.
One book catches my eye. Not because I can read the name in Chinese, but rather the English title.
The Gator nation really is everywhere.
Mason
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