I am passionate about college education.
Classroom Research |
I have conducted two classroom research projects aimed at improving 1) scientific writing and 2) inquiry skills in introductory biology courses. I have collaborated with Dr. Katie Kearns and former Indiana University (IU) graduate student Michelle Marasco on these projects. Participation in an IU Graduate Student Learning Community was essential for getting feedback on and improving this education research.
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Mentoring |
I have been a mentor through Phenotypic Plasticity Research Experience for Community College Students (PRECS), an NSF-funded REU program that provides research experiences to community college students looking to advance on to four-year degree programs. My mentee, Amber Toussaint, is currently a student at Malcolm X College in Chicago, and plans to pursue her bachelor's degree in engineering. She conducted an ambitious project examining how enriched carbon dioxide affects communities of foliar endophytic fungi in the field.
I have also mentored two undergraduate students in conducting independent research on FEF communities of a native perennial wildflower. One of these students, recent graduate Courtney Sullivan, was awarded a research grant and thesis award from the university’s Hutton Honors College. The other recent graduate, Noelle Visser, recently completed a master's program in Medical Mycology at the University of Manchester. Both women presented at a regional conference (Midwest Ecology and Evolution Conference (MEEC) 2015), and are co-authors on the paper, which was published in Microbial Ecology. |
Courses Taught |
I designed and served as the instructor of record for "The Feminist Scientist: What’s the problem with women in science?" (CLLC L120) which was offered through the IU Collins Living-Learning Center in 2016. In 2015 and 2016 I co-instructed "Roots, Fruits & Resiliency," an IU intensive summer course in Jamaica that united Jamaican ecology and culture (OVST J497). This course was taught in partnership with Dr. John Galuska. I have also served as a head associate instructor for the Introductory Biology Laboratory course at IU (BIOL L113).
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Formal Pedagogy Education |
I obtained a doctoral minor and graduate certificate in college pedagogy from IU, and have taken 13 credit hours of graduate-level courses in college pedagogy (minor GPA: 4.0).
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