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I am very passionate about teaching and scientific outreach. I am often at my happiest when I am sharing and discussing my research and academic interests with people who are new to or unfamiliar with the topics. I see every conversation, even the most passive, as an opportunity to educate and bring science to the forefront of more people's minds.

Select Outreach and Science Communication

(See my Media & Press tab for more!)

Dino Fest | NHMLA

2018

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Speaker: The Bruce Museum

August 2026

Gave a fun, invited public talk on the evolution of the ocean's greatest animals at The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT, tied to their Six Extinctions Exhibit.

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Instagram

December 2023-present

Started making reels on my Instagram, @Formorphology, which have garned several thousand plays.

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USC Alumni Day & Natural History Museum

Oct 1, 2023

Gave special VIP tours to groups of USC Alumni at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Topped off with a special table presentation of some of our coolest museum specimens!

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Inaugural USC Dornsife Communicator of the Year Award (PhD student)

March 21, 2022

Received the first ever Communicator of the Year Award from the USC Dornsofe College of Arts, Letters, and Sciences for my efforts in Science Communication and Outreach.

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Wrote an article for The Conversation

March 20, 2021

This article, which targeted a broad audience used real comparative anatomy differences between reptiles and primates in attempt to pick a winner ahead of the movie release for Godzilla vs. Kong. The article was read over 130,000 times.

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Long Beach Comic Expo

January 11, 2020

I had the opportunity to be a featured panelist on on all women paleontologist team at Long Beach Comic Expo for a session titled "Pop Paleo" which discussed with and answered questions from audience members on how paleontology influences popular culture (fantasy, sci-fi, movies, video games, etc). This panel was hosted by Space Expo and Cosplay for Science.

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Project Scientist 

July 26, 2019

As one of Project Scientist's "Superstars" for the week, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to a diverse group of girls, aged 4-12, about marine tetrapods, paleontology, science, and my life journey. Project Scientist is a wonderful program that aims to get young girls interested in STEM fields.

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Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science Opening Ceremony

2017

To celebrate the opening of Virginia Tech's brand new Center for Communicating Science, which I was on the Advisory Board for, a friendly competition called the "Nutshell Games" was held where your graduate research is described in 90 seconds, or in a nutshell. I explained my broader interest and research on the themes of convergent evolution in vertebrates.

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Keynote Speaker: Nevada Steam Conference, Nevada Museum of Art

April 2025

Had the wonderful privilege of giving not one, but two separate public talks on the intersection of science and art. The first was how paleontology and geology influence sci-fi and fantasy. The second was for K-12 educators on the importance and integration of art and science.

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Museum of the Rockies, Dinosaurs and MOR featured speaker

April 2024

Gave a talk on my research to museum goers of a super fun event hosted by one my favorite US museums, the MOR. Here I'm pictured with the unveiled and resurrected Troodon formosus. Last name twinning.

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NHMLA Girls in STEM Day

March 18, 2023

Shared paleontology with many amazing girls at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County's Girls in STEM Day.

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A. Watson Armour III Research Seminar Series Guest Speaker

February 16, 2022

Talked about my journey and path to paleontology as a Black Woman for a Black History Month seminar series for the Field Museum in Chicago.

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Guest lectured about my research and journey for a biology class at CSUSB

March 17, 2021

I was invited to discuss my research and path to paleontology for a Cal State San Bernardino, Comparative Biology of Vertebrates class. CSUSB is a primary Hispanic serving institution. 

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Nerd Nite LA

November 14, 2019

I was a presenter for "Nerd Nite," an event featured in cities across the world where "nerds" have the opportunity to share their nerdy knowledge topics in a laid back, mature, middle-brow setting. I gave a talk on my PhD research, and it was titled "Land was just a phase! I'm not that tetrapod anymore.” It was a hit, both in educational delivery and audience laughs.

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National Fossil Day

November 11, 2017

I volunteered to help assist with the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology's (SVP) table on National Fossil Day 2017 (Nov 9th) at the National Mall in Washington DC. I discussed the end-Permian extinction and the evolution of Triassic reptiles with visitors.

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NHMU's Dino Fest Public Speaker

January 2025

Was a featured public speaker for the Natural History Museum of Utah's annual Dino Fest. This year's them was dedicated to oceans.

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Nerd Nite LA

December 12, 2023

Shared my research with wonderful and knowledge-enthusiastic folks in a relaxed, brewery setting. The presentation was Avatar-themed and hilarious if I do say so myself.

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Burpee Museum's Paleo Fest invited speaker

June 16, 2022

I was an invited speaker at the Burpee Museum's Paleo Fest in Rockford, Illinois, an annual event where paleontological researchers get to present their science to a public audience. 

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Skype a Scientist

November 1, 2021

Featured speaker for Skype a Scientist, a wonderful program which puts real scientists across various fields in K-12 classrooms. I got to share my story and answer amazing questions about paleontology!

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Rutgers Geology Museum "Ask a Geologist" speaker

March 17, 2021

I was invited to talk about mosasaurs for a mostly young audience through the Rutgers University Geology Museum's "Ask a Geologist" program.

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NHMLA's Dino Fest

September, 2018

Volunteered to help represent USC Paleosciences at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles for their 2018 Dino Fest, a two-day festival that is all things dinosaurs and paleontology. I talked with table visitors about titanosaurs, tyrannosaurs, vertebrae, and deep time.

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Virginia Tech Museum of Geosciences Outreach

September, 2017

Two visiting classes of JROTC students from the Franklin Military Academy of Richmond, VA, were given grad student taught lessons on varied topics in earth sciences and paleontology utilizing the museum resources as part of an outreach relationship between the museum and school. My lessons were on geologic time and evolution and were a big hit!

Teaching

Topics in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources (11:216:104)

Course Instructor, Fall 2026, Rutgers University

This is a required course for all EENR majors and minors and is intended to introduce students to the curriculum’s faculty and their areas of research. Involves assigned readings and class visits from EENR faculty, allowing students to ask questions and explore potential experiential learning and undergraduate research opportunities, course offerings, and career paths. Information about the major, common minors, and other opportunities for undergraduates at Rutgers are also discussed.

Vertebrate Zoology (11:216:325)

Postdoctoral Course Instructor, Spring 2025, Rutgers University

History of Life: A View from the Museum, LAB (GEOL 126)

Teaching Assistant, Spring 2019 and Spring 2023, University of Southern California

Lab delves into hands on applications of material covered in the lecture course described as "topically-driven exploration of evolution, environmental change, and the history of life on Earth via the fossil record with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles as a laboratory. How the changing Earth and life co-evolved through time."​ For the 2023 semester, the course professor, Dr. Frank Corsetti, additionally let me present my research to the entire class for one lecture.

Developed and taught a modern Vertebrate Zoology course that deeply integrated evolutionary concepts to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of extant vertebrate life, including fish, lissamphibians, squamates, crocodylians, birds, and mammals. Lab component for the course enables hands-on learning with vertebrate specimens including ethanol preserved, taxidermy, and skeletal anatomy.

Planet Earth (GEOL 105)

Teaching Assistant, Fall 2018, University of Southern California

Broad lab topics covered which served as an extension to topics covered in lecture which on the geologic structure and evolution of planet earth including principles of plate tectonics, rocks and minerals, processes of mountain building, continent and ocean formation, earthquakes, volcanism, fossils and geologic time, and development of landforms by running water and glaciers.

Conservation Ecology (11:216:317)

Grading Assistant, Spring 2018, Rutgers University

Physical Geology, LAB (GEOS 1104)

Teaching Assistant, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Virginia Tech

Graded weekly written assignments and research papers, with effective feedback to facilitate writing improvement. Assignments pertained to various topics on the effects of technology and population growth on species, ecosystems, and human communities, environmental impact of agricultural and industrial systems, global environmental change, and biological and social underpinnings of conservation.

First half of this lab course focused on identification of minerals and rocks; with the second half delving into broader physical geologic themes including interpreting and building geologic maps, topographic maps and air photographs and their use in understanding landscape and geologic influences on human activities.

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©2026 by Formorphology.

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