TEACHING
Throughout my academic endeavors I have always been keen on teaching and participating in educational projects. From teaching university courses and labs to producing several animations of classic ecology papers, I find teaching, mentoring and designing educational tools to be very rewarding experiences. Immersing students in ecology through active learning and fostering diversity in the science are cross-cutting themes in my academic career.
Florida Atlantic University Teaching Appointments
BSC 1005 and 1005L: Life Science Lecture and Lab (Fall and Spring 2023/24)
At Florida Atlantic University my primary role is teaching. I am currently teaching a few sections of Life Science lecture and lab which is FAU's non-majors biology course. This course has been challenging to teach in its traditional format because my students are not aspiring biologists and instead come with interests spanning from business to the arts. In this course I see my main job as getting students excited about science while learning a few important things along the way. To accomplish this I am revamping this course from its traditional progression of basic chemistry to molecular biology and ecology to a focus on relevancy with biological concepts woven into this. For example, instead of focusing on the cell cycle and learning about its stages and mitosis, my class will start by learning about cancer. Then within this context we will explore the cell cycle and mitosis as it pertains to cancer. Later we will learn about energy drinks and tie this into cellular respiration. I'm excited to try this relevancy approach and as usual I will survey my students throughout the semester for feedback.
At Florida Atlantic University my primary role is teaching. I am currently teaching a few sections of Life Science lecture and lab which is FAU's non-majors biology course. This course has been challenging to teach in its traditional format because my students are not aspiring biologists and instead come with interests spanning from business to the arts. In this course I see my main job as getting students excited about science while learning a few important things along the way. To accomplish this I am revamping this course from its traditional progression of basic chemistry to molecular biology and ecology to a focus on relevancy with biological concepts woven into this. For example, instead of focusing on the cell cycle and learning about its stages and mitosis, my class will start by learning about cancer. Then within this context we will explore the cell cycle and mitosis as it pertains to cancer. Later we will learn about energy drinks and tie this into cellular respiration. I'm excited to try this relevancy approach and as usual I will survey my students throughout the semester for feedback.
University of Utah Teaching Appointments
SCI 1500: Interdisciplinary Principles of Scientific Inquiry (Fall 2022)
At the University of Utah one of my primary roles is teaching and mentoring undergraduate students (freshman and sophomores) in the principles of research. Currently I am teaching a course that introduces students to the life of a scientist. In this course my students learn about the scientific method and explore how science interacts with society. We also cover academic ethics, STEM career opportunities and undergraduate research opportunities at the University of Utah. The course is discussion based with very few lecture components.
At the University of Utah one of my primary roles is teaching and mentoring undergraduate students (freshman and sophomores) in the principles of research. Currently I am teaching a course that introduces students to the life of a scientist. In this course my students learn about the scientific method and explore how science interacts with society. We also cover academic ethics, STEM career opportunities and undergraduate research opportunities at the University of Utah. The course is discussion based with very few lecture components.
Northwestern University Teaching Appointments
PBC 470: Introduction to GIS (Winter 2021 - 2022, Instructor of Record)
Hired as an adjunct instructor at Northwestern University, I taught an introduction to geographic information systems (GIS) course and its associated labs. I was not provided with a teaching assistant for this course. This appointment presented a unique opportunity as my class consisted of both undergraduate and graduate students of varying skill levels and experience. At the beginning of the quarter I surveyed my students regarding their skill levels and interests. I then molded the course with this information in mind. For example, several of my students were particularly interested in remote sensing with respect to environmental justice. I seasoned my lectures with active learning activities exploring remote sensing and investigating case studies regarding its use in addressing environmental justice issues. For this course I decided not to give exams as I found them very unhelpful when I was learning GIS. Instead I gave weekly quizzes and hands-on assignments (often case studies). For about half the course points, I assigned a capstone project for which I emphasized quality over quantity. I broke this project down into several components (i.e. outline, presentation, report) and dedicated class and lab time to it's development. SCI 390: R Data Science (Winter 2022, Instructor of Record) Concurrent to my teaching Introduction to GIS at Northwestern, I also taught R Data Science and its associated labs. I structured this course very similarly to my GIS course, prioritizing case studies and a capstone project over exams. For R Data Science, I also surveyed my students at the beginning of the semester and then worked to incorporate their interests in my lectures and coding examples. Students were particularly interested in plant conservation and climate change. As a result I taught them how to download data using national and international climate databases and species diversity repositories. |
University of Arizona Teaching Appointments
ECOL 302: Ecology (Fall 2019, Instructor of Record)
Introductory ecology is a 200-student course with a weekly lab component. I co-taught this course with Dr. Judie Bronstein with her teaching the second half of the semester and me the first. For my half of the semester, I organized field labs and lectures. I delivered my lectures using an overhead projector and writing out notes to help students keep up and stay engaged. I supplemented these chalk-talk lectures with occasional PowerPoint slides of figures. I used polling software to engage students in interpreting figures and concepts. I also used think-pair-shares and various other group activities to make my lectures as interactive as possible. For the lab component we had students travel to various natural areas to conduct hands-on labs.
Various courses (Spring 2014 – ’20; Teaching Assistant)
I served as a teaching assistant for various other courses at the University of Arizona, including Ecology, Biological Principles, Diversity of Life, Botany, Herpetology, and Evolution. While my ability to design course or lab materials was relatively limited, I did learn tremendously from these experiences and always tried to make my sections welcoming and engaging through active learning techniques.
Introductory ecology is a 200-student course with a weekly lab component. I co-taught this course with Dr. Judie Bronstein with her teaching the second half of the semester and me the first. For my half of the semester, I organized field labs and lectures. I delivered my lectures using an overhead projector and writing out notes to help students keep up and stay engaged. I supplemented these chalk-talk lectures with occasional PowerPoint slides of figures. I used polling software to engage students in interpreting figures and concepts. I also used think-pair-shares and various other group activities to make my lectures as interactive as possible. For the lab component we had students travel to various natural areas to conduct hands-on labs.
Various courses (Spring 2014 – ’20; Teaching Assistant)
I served as a teaching assistant for various other courses at the University of Arizona, including Ecology, Biological Principles, Diversity of Life, Botany, Herpetology, and Evolution. While my ability to design course or lab materials was relatively limited, I did learn tremendously from these experiences and always tried to make my sections welcoming and engaging through active learning techniques.
Florida Atlantic University Teaching Appointments
BSC 1015: Life of a Scientist (Fall 2012 & Spring 2013)
Life of a Scientist was my first teaching experience. As a senior undergraduate with a couple years of research experience, I assisted my academic mentor in teaching freshman and sophomores interested in getting involved in campus research. We organized scientific paper dissections, safety and ethics tutorials, career panels, and experimental design workshops for our students. This course was very similar to the Interdisciplinary Principles of Scientific Inquiry course I am now teaching at the University of Utah.
Life of a Scientist was my first teaching experience. As a senior undergraduate with a couple years of research experience, I assisted my academic mentor in teaching freshman and sophomores interested in getting involved in campus research. We organized scientific paper dissections, safety and ethics tutorials, career panels, and experimental design workshops for our students. This course was very similar to the Interdisciplinary Principles of Scientific Inquiry course I am now teaching at the University of Utah.
Animating the Foundations of Ecology
Leslie Real and James Brown provide a fantastic compilation and commentary in Foundations of Ecology of significant works in our field. However, the book does not shorten the papers nor make them more easily accessible for beginning students. I initiated a collaboration between ecologists and animators to present some of these excellent papers in a short format and through a visual medium that beginning students could get excited about. Specifically, we wanted to absorb people in the most important messages contained within the articles. To do so, we produced four short animations highlighting the most important messages of four classic ecology papers. Check out our animations below! They feature original art, music and lyrics!
Title: Life of Every Color and Kind Original Paper: Paine, R. T. 1966. Food Web Complexity and Species Diversity. The American Naturalist 100:65–75. |
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Title: Mangrove Melody Original Paper: Simberloff, D. S., and E. O. Wilson. 1969. Experimental Zoogeography of Islands: The Colonization of Empty Islands. Ecology 50:278–296. |
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Title: The World is Green Original Paper: Hairston, N. G., F. E. Smith, and L. B. Slobodkin. 1960. Community Structure, Population Control, and Competition. The American Naturalist 94:421–425. |
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Title: Huffaker's Balancing Act Original Paper: Huffaker C. 1958. Experimental studies on predation: Dispersion factors and predator-prey oscillations. Hilgardia 27(14):343-383 |
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