The Experiment
Let us first understand the experiment, specifically the scope of the problem and what the domain scientist would like to find. For those of you in an agronomy or plant breeding career, the term “domain” is often used by computer scientists and statisticians to refer to the topic or area of study. So in our case, the domain scientist is Sarah Grogan, a graduate student in plant breeding who is looking at how to better measure drought tolerance in wheat plants. Drought tolerant crop plants are able to withstand among other things, periods with very little water. Let’s listen to Sarah as she further describes her project.
When collaborating on large projects with experts from different disciplines, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the goals and needs of your collaborators when first starting the project. Let’s stop here for a moment and make sure you clearly understand what it is Sarah is hoping to accomplish.