The art and science of learning larger

Art The AND

BY | ELLEN HUNTER GANS ’05

OF LEARNING LARGER

Ever an over-achiever, Ilyse Putz ’20 loved the idea of double-majoring. She was already committed to biology, and thought environmental studies sounded like a good pairing.

She inquired about it and was told that though there was a fair amount of crossover between the disciplines, a full double major was perhaps too ambitious given the exceptional demands of the biology major. She scrapped that plan. And instead, double-majored in biology … and German.

*Record scratch*

You’d be forgiven for thinking what a lot of us are thinking right now: “Why?!” Ilyse hadn’t even studied German in high school. She had studied Spanish. But she had started dabbling in German at Saint Ben’s and knew that she loved languages. And here’s the kicker: Instead of asking why, she asked why not? After all, that’s the beauty of a liberal arts institution.

Why not? Why not specialize in two ostensibly disparate disciplines? Why not cultivate two ways of thinking about the world? Why not challenge your brain to balance theory and possibility, thoughts and figures, concepts and data? Saint Ben’s is a place where you can study a foreign culture in the morning and a cell culture in the afternoon. And Ilyse did just that. Not only did she receive support from her advisors for her extra-ambitious plan, but they helped her find a way to navigate the funding and logistics of managing her coursework while studying abroad in Germany – not just for a semester, but for 14 months, including a demanding internship. Today, Ilyse is back in Germany, pursuing a Ph.D. at the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. She has already experienced the positive effects of her double major, and not just because she can speak the language of her local community and fellow researchers. “Biology is a hard science, and a German degree means studying language, literature, culture, and how people communicate with each other,” says Ilyse. “While they’re two different ways of thinking, they add to and build upon one another. If you have a problem with biology, you can approach it with your other set of critical thinking skills, and vice versa.” Ilyse notes that studying a second language is about so much more than being able to translate words; it’s also about being able to communicate and express information to different people who have different perspectives and communication styles. That skill set will come in handy as she works toward her ideal future role. She wants to work in the science field as a liaison between various stakeholders, including technical/field researchers, working farmers and policymakers.

Ilyse is optimally suited to that type of work as someone who understands the highly technical side but can also leverage her communication skills.

And she certainly won’t have to pretend to understand the farming perspective. Ilyse grew up on a working farm in a small community in Iowa, where they grew corn and hay. Early on, Ilyse developed an interest in sustainability and land stewardship – and that led her to pursue a biology degree. Right now, she’s working on a project that could revolutionize not only how her family’s farm operates, but how the world approaches agriculture overall. Ilyse and her fellow researchers are studying barley, which – like most cash crops – is annual. That means it dies every year and must be replanted. They’re working to find out if they can turn barley into a perennial crop, which would mean that it re-grows each year. It’s difficult to overstate the significance of this potential breakthrough. Perennial crops are exponentially more sustainable. They reduce pollution, help protect against erosion, enhance the level of nurturing organic material in the soil for more productive outputs, and can even sequester massive quantities of carbon. If they can turn barley into a perennial crop, they could potentially apply that learning to other crops – with tremendous implications for the future of agriculture and its impact on climate change. Ilyse thinks it’s within reach. “We’re investigating the ‘switch’ in the crop’s lifespan that makes it die each year, and we hypothesize that there aren’t actually very many ‘things’ that control the lifecycle of a plant, so we may be able to flip that switch.” There are a lot of people cheering Ilyse on. One of them is Kate Ritger ’03, the 2018 recipient of the Saint Ben’s Benedictine Service Award. Like Ilyse, Kate blends the hard skills of science (as a full-time farmer) with skills that involve nuanced interpersonal communication (as a parttime chaplain with a master’s degree from Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary). Ilyse met Kate at Saint Ben’s, and Kate has been integral to Ilyse’s journey. Ilyse hails Kate as a role model for women in science and farming, and as someone who normalized pursuing disjointed disciplines. Kate also introduced Ilyse to other women biologists and scientists within the community. The power of representation can’t be underestimated – both representation as a woman in STEM, and representation as someone who didn’t have to choose between opposing fields. Ilyse has continued to notice the importance of representation. “When I first arrived in Germany, my supervisor was a woman, and her supervisor was a woman,” Ilyse says. Ilyse’s current research group is also headed by a woman, and Ilyse has observed that when a woman is the leader of a research group, the group itself is composed of a higher percentage of women. She saw this in several groups before choosing to join the one she’s in now. She is also a firm believer in the importance of facilitating access to trainings for women who are early career researchers (ECRs). “To me, workshops for female ECRs give the space to see what’s possible and know how to prepare myself successfully for future career and family goals,” Ilyse says. “For equality, the workshops help to instill a confidence in my right to be heard and taken seriously as a female scientific researcher.” Ilyse envisions a future when it’s not brave or exceptional for a woman to pursue a career in biology or other hard sciences. She also envisions a future when the world’s most prevalent cash crops are significantly more sustainable and help curb climate change. Of course, she’s not just envisioning either one. She’s making them happen.

“While they’re two different ways of thinking,