Dr. Carolyn Rasmussen
Dr. Rasmussen grew up in Los Angeles, and attended the University of Chicago where she majored in Chemistry. During her senior year of college, she began volunteering in a lab. She later worked as a lab manager and a medical technician. Dr. Rasmussen then went on to obtain her PhD in microbiology at UC Berkeley. She has completed two postdoctoral positions in plant biology and has been working at UCR since 2014.
Dr. Rasmussen currently works as an Associate Professor of Plant Cell Biology at UC Riverside, within the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, where she leads a 9-person research group as Principal Investigator (PI) of her own research projects. This role allows her to mentor younger scientists within her laboratory, and ask and answer questions that she is passionate about understanding. Besides leading and conducting her own research on plant growth, Dr. Rasmussen also teaches biology classes to UCR students, where she is able to engage with both STEAM and non-STEAM students on what makes plants so exciting to study.
Being part of the Department of Botany and Plant Sciences at UCR, Dr. Rasmussen primarily studies the division plane orientation in plant cells. She is currently researching the function and localization of the TANGLED1 (TAN1) protein. TAN1 helps guide the plant cell to its division site and ensures that the plant grows properly. Therefore, Dr. Rasmussen is hoping to improve the agricultural industry by understanding and eliminating the mutant form of TAN1, a protein that is unable to lead to correct cell division in plants.
When it comes to being a woman in STEAM, Dr. Rasmussen does acknowledge that she has experienced discrimination, mostly as a younger woman just entering the field. However, she says that her current environment at UCR, as well as the larger scientific community around her, is full of very powerful and supportive women colleagues, which provides a safe and encouraging environment to work and research within. She encourages young women to consider all the diverse career opportunities STEAM can provide, but to consider the type of STEAM career they would enjoy and excel at, and what experience, skills, and education is required to get there.
