Teaching and Mentorship

Teaching

I love working with students and thinking about how people construct new understanding about the world, especially when it comes to scientific concepts that may not be intuitive. I take a learner-centered, evidence-based backwards-design approach in all my instruction, and teaching is hands-down one of my favorite things to do.

Adjunct Faculty/Instructor of Record:
EVST 2100: Natural History: Theory and Practice, Seattle University, Spring 2024
EVST 3200: Principles of Ecology, Seattle University, Spring 2024
BIOL 310: Biology of Climate Change, Freedom Education Project/University of Puget Sound, Summer 2023
BIOL 100: Survey of Biology, Freedom Education Project Puget Sound/Tacoma Community College, Fall 2022
EVST 2200: Principles of Ecology, Seattle University, Spring 2022
ENGL 199E: Writing in the Natural Sciences, University of Washington, Aut 2020

Teaching Assistant:
Biol 103: Sex, Death, and Evolution (high-enrollment non-majors course), Win 2020
Biol 180: Intro Bio (Evolution and Ecology), Aut 2015/Spr 2016/ Win 2017, Spr 2021
Biol 200: Intro Bio (Cellular and Molecular Biology), Spr 2018
Biol 354: Foundations in Evolution and Systematics, Win 2017/Win 2018
Biol 356: Foundations in Ecology, Aut 2020
Biol 434: Invertebrate Zoology, Win 2019
Biol 472: Community Ecology, Aut 2016/Aut 2017

Guest Lectures:
Biol 434: Lectures on Mollusca, Annelida, and Phylogenies (Sum 2019), Biol 103: Lectures on coevolution and evolutionary perspectives on cancer (Win 2020)

Mentorship

I’ve worked with the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program at UW since 2016, mentoring both first- and second-year scholars in the program who completed independent projects on subjects ranging from pollination ecology and invertebrate diversity to conifer seed predation and volunteer experiences in a community science program. And they did it all while surviving weeks of attacks from the Pacific Northwest’s vicious snowmelt mosquitoes! I also mentored student researchers in my lab, who have done things like investigate the interactive effects of heat and herbivory on floral traits in Mimulus and test for systematic biases in studies of restoration and insect populations. The UW’s annual Undergraduate Research Symposium was always a proud day! More recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about how mentorship, particularly in the field of conservation, helps to facilitate positive change in mentors themselves, as well as the organizations they work with.

2016, Leila Ayad: “Nature’s Ménage à trois: Pollinator Fidelity in Subalpine Meadows.”
2016, James Martin: “Floral Production as a Strategy for Pollinator Attraction.”
2017, Jose Esparza: “MeadoWatch Project": Importance of Ethnic and Racial Diversity in Citizen Science.”
2017, Bailey Jocelyn Hussung: “Different Spaces, One Community: A Survey of the Insect Population in Subalpine Forest and Meadows.”
2018, Brittany Amaral, Celida Moran, Julieta Saucedo, Bree Yamada, and Olivia Hair: “Links between Seed Predation, Small Mammals, and Tree Ranges on Mt. Rainier.”
2018, Katie Nielsen: “Effects of Temperature and Herbivory on Photosynthesis and Performance in Mimulus guttatus leaves.”
2020, Ari Geary Teeter:" “Biases in Insect Restoration Studies: A Critter-ature Review.”