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Katelyn Butler

@katelynjbutler.bsky.social
739 followers 774 following 216 posts

Instructional professor & plant pathologist committed to inclusive, evidence-based teaching. Also mom to the best F1s (n=2), easily distracted by mosses & lichens, overly competitive at board games & always up for a little treat. (she/her)

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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
I talked about dilution plating as a way to quantify bacteria to a student designing a research project, and he suggested that it was "primitive" and wanted a more "modern method" I'm not a dinosaur, right? People still do this?
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
First day back working on campus and already mistaken for a student even though I dressed up today. Then I met a new faculty 6 years younger than me and remembered this is my 8th year teaching. So, I’m confused.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Well, my three year old asked if the specks on the outside of the strawberry were seeds. Time for a botany lesson. 🍓
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Nothing has made me think before I speak more than having a 3 year old.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
My son’s exact reaction when I told him to put his shoes on this morning. (We’ve been in a Frog and Toad phase, I love it)
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
I also almost didn’t know about it because I’m on maternity leave and only checked my work email to find a gift card some friends sent.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
I won a teaching award on campus. It’s student nominated AND for my teaching in the core curriculum (so, nonmajors) which just feels special. 🥺 college.uchicago.edu/news/uchicag...
college.uchicago.edu
UChicago 2025 Undergraduate Teaching Award Winners Announced
Recognizing the Swogger, Booth and Undergraduate Student teaching prizes
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Is there a German word for choosing an inanimate object (mug, spoon, pair of socks) that you haven’t used in a while to make sure its feelings don’t get hurt?
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Is there a German word for choosing an inanimate object (mug, spoon, pair of socks) that you haven’t used in a while to make sure its feelings don’t get hurt?
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Reposted by Katelyn Butler
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
Forget touching grass, try touching some forest moss.
a small green damselfly sits on a stick on a bed of moss on the forest floor
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
My toddler learned giraffes have purple tongues at daycare and so we spent all of lunch looking up animal tongue colors. Do any of you have some good animal tongues I can share with him?
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
I just checked my Field Museum volunteer discord for the first time in weeks and bummed I missed out on so many good “dire wolf” memes back when they were relevant.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
In grad school I participated in a potato taste test for potato breeders and there was one potato that distinctly tasted like stinky shoes. 🥔
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
😞 thought we had it there for a minute. Feeling adrift in a sea of defeat (get it?) #TeamAutotrophForLife #2025MMM
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Plant induced carnage! Love to see it. 🌱 #TeamAutotrophAndFriends #2025MMM
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Can we please get books with picture inserts to use Figure References so we know to go look at the picture at the right time and see them in context?
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
I sold 10 books to the local bookstore today and only came home with 4. This feels like a victory. 📕
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Are those arteries and veins coming out of the tronk? Revolutionary, if true.
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ASPB Early Career Plant Scientists Section @ecps.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
Exciting news, ECPS members! The ASPB ECPS Travel Award applications are OPEN for #PlantBio2025, July 26–30, 2025 in Milwaukee! Get up to $500 to present, network & grow! Deadline: April 4, 2025, 11:59 PM PT Apply now! 👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #PlantScience #TravelAward #ASPB
docs.google.com
ECPS Travel Award for PB25
The Early Career Plant Scientists section of ASPB is currently accepting applications for travel awards for the annual meeting in Milwaukee, July 26-30. Fifteen Awards of up to $500 will be distribute...
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
#2025MMM
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
SEED Sixteen? Sweet SEED-teen? Either way, an exciting victory for #TeamAutotroph #AndFriends
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
I’ve got my 2.5 year old calling his fingers and toes phalanges and this just feels like win. 🦴
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
A DREAM TEAM! 🍄 🌳 #TeamAutotroph #BetterTogether #2025MMM
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Still….no….regrets. ☹️ 🌿 #TeamAutotroph #2025MMM
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Still no regrets choosing all the autotrophs. #2025MMM
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Reposted by Katelyn Butler
Tara Chestnut, PhD @tcastanea.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
NEXT UP: #2 ALLIGATOR GAR (Atractosteus spatula) vs. CYANOBACTERIA (Prochlorococcus spp.) #2025MMM
High resolution photo of a Prochlorococcus cyanobacteria. They are in small clusters with clear bodies with round green blobs in the middle.Photo of a USFWS employee in a pool holding an alligator gar that is ~7ft long. There are three other employees standing around him outside of the pool. The gar is silvery on top with large scales and pinkish on the belly
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Final grades submitted for the quarter! How did the quarter go by so quickly?!
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Only one wrong this round! Played it pretty safe but picked the upset, but really just waiting for the #Autotrophs
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
#2025MMM is local! (For now)
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Let’s hear it for the UnEssay - two of my favorite things, plant pathogens & board games. Students made a board game about Citrus Canker and it’s fun and well-researched! (Even though I managed to lose against @butlerjackson.bsky.social, per usual). 🎲 🧪
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
I changed some things in my classes this quarter and they didn't quite turn out like I expected. Not bad, but not what I was envisioning. And while I know this is part of teaching and will do it better next time, it still makes me frustrated? sad? upset? that it wasn't ideal this time.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Math works!
A straighter fitting in a small drawer diagonally
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Just used the Pythagorean theorem to figure out if my straightener would fit in the drawer of a new bathroom cabinet we’re shopping for (it will!). Stay in school, kids.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Bringing treats to the last day of classes for the quarter! ...which is motivated at least 50% by the fact that *I* want treats on the last day of class.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Update: They took my money. Excited to see The Head and the Heart AND Wilderado in August with @butlerjackson.bsky.social 🤘
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Submitted my bracket. As a biologist, I understand the benefits of looking up adaptations, habitats, behaviors, etc. but I will always fill out my MMM bracket with my heart... and then be heartbroken. #2025MMM LETS GINGK-GO!
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Reposted by Katelyn Butler
Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
I just found out the Field Museum volunteers do a #2025MMM bracket pool, and I am SO EXCITED. This full-time member of #TeamAutotroph is 100% #TeamGingko and here to watch the demise of the #Heterotrophs.
media.tenor.com
a person dressed as a flower with sunglasses and the word aww written on it
Alt: a person dressed as a flower with sunglasses and the word aww written on it
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
You’re telling me one of my favorite bands is touring with another one of my favorite bands?! Say less and take my money. Where’s the presale code?
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Mostly because @butlerjackson.bsky.social wins ~70% of games we play (we now have data to back this up). But when I do win, the victory is so, so, sweet. (I'm competitive, he's competitive, but we still have fun...most of the time 🙃)
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
I just found out the Field Museum volunteers do a #2025MMM bracket pool, and I am SO EXCITED. This full-time member of #TeamAutotroph is 100% #TeamGingko and here to watch the demise of the #Heterotrophs.
media.tenor.com
a person dressed as a flower with sunglasses and the word aww written on it
Alt: a person dressed as a flower with sunglasses and the word aww written on it
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Quote post with a picture you took in a National Park. Glacier National Park, August 2024 (do you see the friend? 🐏)
A picture overlooking a valley with mountains and clouds in the background. In the foreground is an area of grass with some pine trees and a male ram is grazing.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
It is not an exaggeration to say I wouldn't be where I am without my REU. I went to a teeny tiny school with no research opportunities. My REU was my introduction to research and strengthened my graduate school application. I only had one summer during which I could participate. This is tragic.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
My toddler talking about the garlic bread he’s about to eat: “I’m going to eat it all gone and then I’ll be sad and we’ll have to go borrow more from the store” He gets it.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
For those interested, this is my one moderately successful craft project, just don't look closely.
Two chloroplast earrings made of clay. Lime green ovals with smaller darker green ovals to represent the granum.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Is there anything more disappointing than wearing your chloroplast earrings during photosynthesis week and none of your students noticing?
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
You know what makes grading easier? When students do a great job and are on the right track! Reinforcing happy professor-I-love-my-job feelings.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Periodically I think about how amazing and fun it is that I get paid to think about, talk about, and help students understand biology everyday. And then I remember the grading on my to do list. That's what I really get paid to do, I'd do the rest for free.
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Well, @butlerjackson.bsky.social and I made a board game goal this year and I hate to say it but I think it’s actually helping us play more games. (Also I won Watergate tonight if anyone was wondering) 🎲
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I had 50% of my class attend today. I get that they’re busy and try not to take it personally but today we were talking about disease sniffing DOGS and I handed out plant-themed valentines! Arguably the cutest day of class. 🐶 💌 🦠
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Katelyn Butler @katelynjbutler.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
One time in class I couldn't remember the word for output (it was Friday before spring break) so I just said "exput" until a student finally corrected me.
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