My aspirations as an educator are three-fold: to instill fascination in science and the natural world, strengthen scientific literacy, and encourage engagement in science. I aim to excite interest in the scientific process through hands-on experiments and discussion based courses. I want to design courses that drive students to invest in their learning experience by focusing on inquiry-based learning. Also, my goal is to provide real-world examples of the successes of conservation biology and generate citizens who can think critically about science and conservation issues. Through my experience as a teaching assistant, I am prepared with the skillset to complete these goals. I have lead hands-on labs where students conduct experiments and are guided through the scientific process. I have also lead discussions of current issues within the field of Developmental Biology. In my experience I have watched students become engaged in their own learning when given the responsibility of an independent research project in class. Lastly, with mentoring students one-on-one, I have witnessed their growth in critically thinking about today’s issues.

 

Courses

As a conservation biologist and eco-physiologist, I am well prepared to teach advanced and introductory courses in Biology, Conservation Biology, Ecology, and Physiology. Given my passion about the natural world, I am excited to teach courses that utilize natural conservation areas for examples of ecological processes and conservation practices. My experience as a teaching assistant have shown me the importance of inquiry-based education.

While leading the Principles of Animal Development lab at WSU as a teaching assistant I learned to engage students in hands-on experiments with live developing embryos. Because of the visual nature and dynamics of developmental processes, I learned that students excel in comprehending these processes through the use of live experiments. Also, I gained skills of teaching this topic using different media, such as images and videos, live demonstrations, and online simulations. In my experience students benefit when given the opportunity to explore questions that interest them. In this course, students ask a question through independent study and we guide them through designing and conducting the experiment. They work on their public speaking by presenting findings to the class. This experience has taught me the importance of inquiry-based education, which I will continue to strengthen throughout my career.

Also, I was a teaching assistant for introductory lab course for non-science majors, which is critical for generating scientifically literate public. I engaged students with basic hands-on labs and simulations, and I gave brief lectures on general material. Introductory courses should provide a welcoming environment for students to feel comfortable with asking questions and thinking critically about current events. I learned that many students were more active in their learning when I provided examples that they could relate to. In my career, I aim to design introductory courses that utilize examples from every-day life to excite students to ask questions about the natural world around them.

Additionally, my goal is to develop advanced courses on Field Methods for Population Monitoring and a Topics in Conservation Biology seminar. The field methods course will teach students how to ask testable biological questions of interest to conservation or management. Over a semester, students will develop a study question, identify a testable hypothesis, design a field study, analyze and orally present their results to the class. The topics course will be a student lead discussion based course on key studies in conservation biology and the current state of issues in the field. These courses will recapitulate concepts learned in the introductory courses and then focus on the advanced application of these concepts.

 

Mentoring

I aim to prioritize one-on-one mentoring in research projects in the lab, because I have witnessed the effectiveness of this method in educating interested students. In this setting, students can discover their desire for a career in science. My experience has been very rewarding watching students transform from a passive learner to active scientist. As a graduate student I mentored six undergraduates, two are authors on publications and posters. Two of these students received grants to support research, and one won awards for her poster presentation. As an undergraduate, my mentors on research projects were very influential in my goal to pursue a career in biology. I look forward to working with more inspiring students and fostering the passion for research in coming years.

Undergraduates in my lab will work directly with me on research projects, and we will meet weekly to discuss papers and the progress of research. There will be a strong emphasis on communicating scientific ideas, hypotheses and results and students will be encouraged to give posters and talks to the lab members but also at local and national meetings. I will emphasize the goal to co-author papers on these projects and develop key networking relationships with other researchers within their field of interest. Bringing my research into my teaching and demonstrating to students that science is dynamic and on-going, culminates my dream as an academic mentor.

 

Outreach

To foster public interest in conservation research, I hope to integrate interested public and students into long-term monitoring of local populations for my research. Within this program, a yearly citizen-science “Bio-blitz” event will be held to collect data on amphibian population densities, water quality and disease prevalence. Urban and underrepresented groups of students will be encouraged to become involved, get outdoors, and see potential careers in STEM. I aim to hold a symposium for the local public to hear about scientific activities occurring right in their neighborhoods. I have been involved in two public symposia and found these events to be a mutually-beneficial bridge across the gap between scientists and the general public. My goal is to provide the general public with the first-hand experience of the significance of conservation research. Overall, I aim to instill a fascination in the natural world in the local public.