Oliver Walters-Clift: Summer Research Experience at Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center

Research Experience and Leadership Application

This summer, Oliver Walters-Clift (Caldwell Class of 2027) is conducting NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) work in the Gehan Lab at the Donald Danforth Plant Sciences Center in Missouri. The lab focuses on crop heat resistance improvements and phenotypic techniques. His specific project examines quinoa pollen’s response to heat stress, contributing to the lab’s broader research on heat and drought stress in various crops.

Fellowship Foundation and Growth

Oliver describes his Caldwell Fellowship experience as fundamentally about community, emphasizing the distinctive kindness of his cohort and their shared commitment to service. The program has cultivated his ability to be “intentionally reflective,” a skill he identifies as transformative for extracting meaningful lessons from experiences that might otherwise be overlooked.

This translates directly into his leadership approach, which centers on maintaining perspective amid complex research challenges. He emphasizes regularly stepping back to consider fundamental questions: “What are we trying to learn? Why do we want to know this?” This reflective practice, developed through his Caldwell experience, has proven invaluable for experimental design and execution in an environment where precision is crucial but mistakes are inevitable.

Being able to think through what is happening with any given event is often the best way to learn new things, and being intentional with this has given me a lot of lessons that I would have otherwise missed.

Navigating Research Complexity

The multifaceted nature of laboratory work presents both challenges and opportunities. Oliver describes the demanding balance of learning new protocols, maintaining his own experiment, and understanding how his work fits within the broader research ecosystem. His strategy involves connecting individual projects to larger laboratory goals, finding it particularly engaging to compare his quinoa research with colleagues’ work on maize stress responses.

I find that the best way to handle this challenge is to take that step back and see how our topics fit together and how everyone’s projects and ideas fit into my lab’s bigger picture goals.

Key Insights and Memorable Moments

A highlight of Oliver’s summer was attending the Danforth retreat at the Missouri Botanic Garden, where he engaged with cutting-edge scientific presentations and built relationships with labmates outside the formal work environment. A particularly impactful moment was viewing a first-edition print of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” which provided a tangible connection to the foundational work that continues to influence the field.

Advice for Future Fellows

Oliver encourages incoming Caldwell Fellows to maximize their engagement with the program through active participation in optional events, seminars, and informal gatherings. He emphasizes that the fellowship’s value scales with investment while also recognizing its potential as a support system during challenging academic periods. His core message is to embrace both the structured opportunities and the organic community-building aspects of the Caldwell Fellows experience.

The Takeaway

Oliver’s experience demonstrates how the Caldwell Fellowship’s emphasis on reflective practice translates directly into research excellence. His ability to maintain a big-picture perspective while managing detailed experimental work exemplifies the kind of thoughtful leadership the program aims to develop. The summer research experience has provided him with both scientific skills and a deeper appreciation for how individual contributions fit within larger scholarly traditions, preparing him for continued impact in agricultural sciences.