1. Christy Gault Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Program

2.  You fully understand the project you are writing about.  Gives you practice talking about scientific projects, start to finish  Gives you practice identifying a gap in knowledge and planning a series of experiments

3.  Clearly state why you have chosen your area of research and your graduate program  Set yourself apart, but don’t neglect the obvious  There’s no such thing as too many applications for broader impacts  My personal statement: ◦ The story of the day I chose to switch fields ◦ International collaborations ◦ Inclusion of women ◦ Inclusion of underprivileged in science

4.  Represented a journey for me to find my research interests  Paragraph for each research experience  Level of independence grew  Developed skills for working in a group

5.  Short introduction ◦ SHORT summary of current knowledge  My research question: ◦ How does the sorbitol dehydrogenase enzyme affect corn kernel development?

6. My specific aims: 1. To test if sorbitol dehydrogenase activity triggers changes in kernel development. 2. To investigate whether sorbitol also acts as a signal molecule in development. 3. To determine the conservation of the SDH signaling pathway across several grass species.

7.  Get diverse perspectives ◦ Professors ◦ Peers  Allow enough time ◦ For the reviewers to comment ◦ For you to act on their comments