Tanya Murtha is the owner and grower behind Murtha Flower Farm, where she specializes in dahlias. Trained as a scientist, she spent six years at ISU’s DNA Facility and holds a graduate degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She currently works in biotechnology as an Application Scientist in RNA biology. Her talk explores how scientific curiosity, experimentation, and failure translate from the lab to the field; and why that mindset matters for farmers, scientists, and communities alike.