Kaiden O’Dell

Kaiden lives in Salina, KS, and considers this to be his hometown, but he has also spent a significant amount of his life residing in the town of Hays, KS. Kaiden graduated from Fort Hays State University (FHSU) with a Bachelor’s Degree in geology, with minors in biology and English composition as well as a certificate in museum science. Kaiden’s academic focus at FHSU was in the field of paleontology, and his research interests include taxonomy, phylogenetics, evolutionary biology, and the Permian-Triassic extinction. Prior to working at The Land Institute, Kaiden worked as an intern at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History. As a collections intern, he spent a lot of time identifying broken fragments of vertebrate fossil material. While working with invertebrates like moths and bees will be a bit of a change, I am excited to work with modern, complete specimens.

Q&A

What’s most inspiring about your specific position at The Land Institute?

I am very excited to use my interests in taxonomy and systematics to help with projects like the ones being researched by the Crop Protection Ecology team. Pest and pollinator management is important to world food production, and I think that getting to use my skills to help research environmentally sustainable options is an inspiring opportunity. While I consider my work in paleontology important, this project has a much more tangible impact
on the world around me, and I am glad to be involved.

What drew you to work at The Land Institute?

I have known about The Land Institute since I was in high school when we were tasked by our AP biology teacher to visit and identify local plants in The Land Institute’s prairie for a project. I didn’t know much about The Land Institute at the time, but the mission to create environmentally sustainable farming practices and perennial crops stuck with me, and I was proud that research of that type was being done in my hometown. After coming home from college, I was planning to volunteer at The Land Institute for the summer if possible. However, upon seeing there was a research assistant position open, I was eager to get more directly involved.

What perennial grain do you look forward to eating most, and how would you prepare it?

I am not much of a cook or baker, but I am interested in seeing how Kernza compares to other grains in bread and other foods. Relatedly, my family consists of many self-described “beer snobs,” a trait that has been partially passed on to me. I know there are already a few brewers making
Kernza-based beer, and I am excited to try them when I get a chance (or even try my hand at making some myself!)

What else are you passionate about outside of work?

I have many minor interests outside of my work and research. To list a few, I enjoy camping, hiking, amateur herpetology, watching Star Trek and other old sci-fi shows, playing tabletop roleplaying games, and reading books about ancient philosophy and religious history.

What’s your motto/favorite quote?

I have always been struck by the following Baba Dioum quotation: “In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.” It has stuck with me since I was a child and has informed a lot of my personal goals as a researcher and public educator. Only some things get conserved through the passage of time, be it fossils, historical documents,  or pieces of literature. I think it is important to identify the things you find valuable and inspiring and teach them to others around you. This way, we can preserve and pass on the best parts of ourselves for the generations to come.

What were you like at age 10?

At age 10, I was an unstoppable, insatiable, question-asking machine. I was interested in nearly every field of science I could get my fingers into. Documentaries were always my favorite things to watch on TV, and I would spend hours reading Wikipedia for fun. I still spend hours reading
Wikipedia for fun, so maybe not much has changed.

Support the work of Kaiden and others at The Land Institute with a donation.

DONATE