For Laura Tibbs Cortes, it started with the barn cats.
Growing up on a corn and soybean farm north of Ames, it was the barn cats that first sparked her interest in genetics.
“I had always liked watching the cats and keeping records on them, but in middle school, I found a textbook about cats in my local library with a chapter on feline genetics,” Tibbs Cortes said. “Now, with the help of that textbook and the records I had made, I could start trying to figure out the genetics of the kittens born on the farm each year, and I just found it so incredibly fascinating.”