‘I Feel Like The Luckiest Person I Know:’ UConn scientific manager of plants has traveled the globe

By: Antho­ny Zepperi 
Sep­tem­ber 25, 2019
The Dai­ly Campus 

Sarah Taylor’s pas­sion for plants has allowed her to tra­verse the globe look­ing at var­i­ous plant species. 

Tay­lor, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Connecticut’s sci­en­tif­ic man­ag­er of plants, said she became inter­est­ed in plants after she attend­ed Con­necti­cut Col­lege in New London. 

“I reluc­tant­ly reg­is­tered for plant tox­i­col­o­gy, the study of how plants inter­act with var­i­ous chem­i­cals, and found that the pro­fes­sor was so pas­sion­ate and engag­ing about plants that they became excit­ing and inter­est­ing to me,” Tay­lor said. “It’s a real­ly gift­ed pro­fes­sor who can take a stu­dent who doesn’t want to be a part of a class and turn them into the most excit­ed per­son there.” 

Tay­lor spent 15 years study­ing var­i­ous North Amer­i­can botan­i­cal habi­tats, from gyp­sum in the Chi­huahuan Desert to the vis­tas in the Rocky Mountain’s alpine tun­nel, accord­ing to the UConn bio­di­ver­si­ty research and edu­ca­tion col­lec­tions web­site. Pre­vi­ous­ly, she was the plant col­lec­tions man­ag­er at the Uni­ver­si­ty of South Car­oli­na. She has been UConn’s plant man­ag­er since Novem­ber 2018. 

Taylor’s plant stud­ies have tak­en her around the globe, and she has learned many inter­est­ing facts through­out her travels. 

Tay­lor said that UConn’s herbar­i­um, or plant col­lec­tion, is unique. 

“Our arrange­ment allows for a huge amount of col­lab­o­ra­tion and coop­er­a­tion that isn’t pos­si­ble at oth­er places,” Tay­lor said. 

Tay­lor said it’s impor­tant to under­stand the ori­gins of specimens. 

“You have to be able to iden­ti­fy where and when the spec­i­men was col­lect­ed for study pur­pos­es,” Tay­lor said. “Cli­mate change is just one study done from these identifications.” 

Tay­lor said she enjoys the field and enjoys what comes with it. 

“When I’m in the field, see­ing and hear­ing and smelling things that few peo­ple get to expe­ri­ence, I feel like the luck­i­est per­son I know,” Tay­lor said.