I teach and interact with students, faculty/staff, and alumni -- all in the context of Biocore. In my current position, I teach two large enrollment lab courses (1. Biocore 302- Ecology, Evolution and Genetics and 2. Biocore 304-Cell Biology), I help coordinate the first and second semester lecture courses (Biocore 301 and 303), I supervise and train graduate teaching assistants, I serve as Biocore's undergraduate advisor and as a research mentor for projects out in the Biocore Prairie, I lead Biocore peer mentors and writing consultants program, and I serve as the program Associate Director.

I am a plant biologist by training, receiving my doctorate from University of Illinois in 1998. My graduate research focused on the symbiosis of nitrogen-fixing microbes that form a partnership with a group of woody plants known as 'actinorhizal plants', including alder (Alnus sp.). This research influences the many types of ecological studies we pursue in the Biocore Prairie.

I was "turned on" to teaching as a graduate student and was so inspired and excited about teaching science that I pursued a postdoc in science education a t Michigan State University from 1999-2002. My particular interests in science education focus on how students develop scientific reasoning skills through 'doing science' and communicating about their science. In addition, I am interested in student misconceptions that form barriers to learning, and the development of curriculum that engages student thinking and provides authentic assessment of student understanding. (See some of the projects that graduate students have recently developed with us in the context of Biocore courses.)