Teaching

Classes taught or able to teach

Philosophy

As an educator, I push beyond content delivery to encourage critical thinking and develop intellectual curiosity, helping advance students as lifelong learners. Using evidence-based teaching practices, I strive to continuously reflect upon and improve my teaching while adapting my courses to the ever-changing needs of students. Some of my major accomplishments teaching undergraduates include:

The Importance of Community

I believe that learning does not happen in isolation. Connections with peers in and out of the classroom can bolster learning, and so it is a primary goal of my teaching and service within the department to foster a supportive community. I accomplish this goal by incorporating fun group activities during classtime: in groups of 4 find something you all share in common, or break up a long lab section with a quick round of running though a human tunnel. I couple this with explicit community-building events outside of class: department-wide ice cream socials, a Bioween Haunted House, and a summer Biology Olympics where faculty design biology-related carnival games for the undergraduate research students. In addition to these events, I implement annual rituals, such as a biology-themed graduation cord and associated cord ceremony. This investment in community helps all students develop a fun and productive learning environment, but it is especially impactful for students who may otherwise feel less welcome in academic spaces. We explicitly aim to increase the accessibility of the faculty and academic spaces to students from underepresented racial, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as to students with neurodiversity and physical disabilities.