Ishita Khambete is a graduate student at the University of Albany, working towards a geospatial artificial intelligence and big data analytics certificate of graduate study. Ishita joined the YVoS Spring 2026 program with the goal to strengthen her science communication skills at all levels, considering there are so many ways to discuss science and so many people to communicate with, with a particular focus on helping K-12 students develop an understanding and interest in environmental sciences.
For her outreach project, Ishita created a zine titled “ Mycorrhizae, Plants, Society and Symbiosis: A Mutualism”, a short stylized magazine all about the mutualistic relationship between plants and mycorrhizal fungi. Her interest in this topic led her to create this zine in order to communicate her knowledge to more general audiences and allow them to explore the wonders of mycorrhizal fungi, how they play major roles in ecosystem function and support ecosystem services that society depends on. She also created an accompanying website in order to continually update zine with new information, make the zine downloadable for educational purposes, and to host a blog all about mycorrhizae news, research and interesting facts.
You can visit her website and learn more about mighty mycorrhizae here!
