ABOUT ME

My CV

Resume

Who I

am

curiosity-driven, life-long learner
believes that thoughtfully designed field courses have the potential to be transformative learning experiences for all students
cares deeply about addressing issues of inequity in biology courses & fostering an inclusive environment in biology courses
excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills
thoughtful and enthusiastic collaborator
fascinated by organismal diversity, in particular the fascinating body plans and adaptations of marine invertebrates

General Skills

Statistical analysis & data visualization (R, Excel, and Numbers)
Backwards Curriculum Design
Canvas educational technology
Evidence-based teaching methods
Microsoft Office Suite
Virtual learning tools (Padlet, Jamboard, PollEverywhere)
Project management and collaboration tools (Slack, Trello)
Recreational coastal boating (sailboat and motorboat operation), Canadian Small Vessel Operator's Permit (SVOP, Small Domestic Vessel Basic Safety, Marine First Aid, ROC-M)

Work

experience

Instructor, Marine Invertebrate Zoology

Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre

Summer 2023

I just returned from teaching an intensive six-week marine invertebrate zoology field course to 24 students who hailed from the University of Victoria, University of British Columbia, University of Alberta, and the University of Calgary. Getting to explore and teach in the marine environments of Bamfield British Columbia on the beautiful west coast of Vancouver Island was a dream come true!

We went on over 20 field trips (many to remote sites only accessible by boat) and held 12 labs exploring the fascinating invertebrates of Barkley Sound. In the last three weeks of our course, students led team-based research projects, that they designed, executed, and presented the results of. Topics ranged widely from animal behavior in response to thermal stress, exploring the impacts of herbivory in the intertidal, and surveying species diversity.

Cornell University, Postdoctoral Associate

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

2022 - present

I am working with Professor Michelle Smith and a team of researchers from the University of Nebraska on a NSF funded project entitled "Evaluating how open educational resources facilitate the implementation of NSF Vision and Change Principles across diverse institutions."

As part of this exciting project, I am leading a team-based scoping review of peer-reviewed lesson plans for North American undergraduate biology courses from the year 2000 to the present. We will be evaluating the open source status of each resource in our dataset and identifying alignment of each lesson plan to Vision and Change principles.

As part of this work, I have the privilege of collaborating with and mentoring two undergraduate students, Sanah Ahmed ('23) and Tiffany Adjei-Opong ('25).

Research Skills

Marine Invertebrate identification
Marine Ecology field research techniques
Transcriptomics & Bioinformatic data analysis
Microdissection
Light MIcroscopy
Confocal imaging
RNA Isolation
Microalgae and Bryozoan Culturing
Qualitative and Mixed-methods education research

Cornell University, Postdoctoral Fellow

Department of Natural Resources & the Environment

2019 - 2022

As an Active Learning Initiative fellow in the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment (DNRE) I developed and led active learning-infused curricular interventions for project-based courses such as Introductory Field Biology and a suite of Environmental Science and Sustainability Capstone courses. Many of my materials focus on scaffolding reflection and training in transferable project skills of teamwork, leadership, collaboration, communication and the scientific process. I also conducted research on the experiences of students who are participating in field courses in order to better understand how instructors can make field-oriented courses more inclusive to all students.

Education

Harvard University, Ph.D.

Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

I am fascinated by colonial marine invertebrates, and the unusual way that colony modules (in some species) can divide labor to accomplish the tasks of living. My dissertation research focused on exploring division of labor within a species of marine bryozoan. I explored this fascinating topic using RNA-sequencing technology by isolating messenger RNA from bryozoan modules and constructed de novo transcriptomes of these modules at different stages of development, and compared their differential gene expression.

University of Oregon, M.S.

Oregon Institute of Marine Biology

My fascination with marine invertebrates exploded while I lived on the Oregon coast, exploring tidepools at low tide searching for organisms beneath boulders and among kelp fronds. For my thesis, I explored the settlement dynamics of an encrusting marine bryozoan in the lab, and in the field along a salinity gradient in the South Slough Estuary. I was lucky to participate in an oceanographic research cruise and went to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in a Deep Sea submersible. As a GK-12 Fellow at the time, I was able to share my experiences with local Kindergarden through 6th graders in my community, along with teaching them about marine biology.

Wellesley College, B.A.

Biology (major) & Music (minor)

I had my first true field research experience in college, when I travelled to Belize and Costa Rica with my Tropical Field Ecology course. This experience of conducting my own research in such a fascinating and beautiful environment was transformative and inspired me to pursue graduate degrees in Biology. I formed life-long friendships and am still very close with my classmates and professor from this class.