I am very passionate about teaching and scientific outreach. I am often at my happiest when I am 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.

Outreach and Science Communication

Dino Fest | NHMLA

2018

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.

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!

Virginia Tech Geofair and Minerals Show

2017

Shared my then master's research with the public. At the time, this included some really neat archosauromorph vertebrae from Tanzania and the southwest U.S. and implications for evolution of this broad group after the end-Permian extinction.

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.

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.

Science Festival_edited_edited_edited.pn

Virginia Tech Science Festival

September, 2016

Helped represent the VT Paleobiology and Geobiology research group at our table talking with visitors about everything from dinosaur feathers to ontogeny, using real feathers and histology slides to use as educational tools.

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.

"Up-Goer 5" Challenge

May, 2017

This fun challenge tasks you with you explaining a difficult topic using only the "ten hundred" or 1000 most common English words. Meant to be humorous and absurd in tone, my presentation was called "How Cold-blooded, Dry-skinned, Four-legged Animals with Long Necks Can Tell Us How Animals Change Through Time."

Rutgers Geology Museum

November, 2014

As part of an internship, I independently designed a tour for the Rutgers Geology Museum, one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the country, called "A Journey Through Deep Time and Evolution." This tour took a look at the paleontological museum exhibits starting with Ice Age mammals and moving backwards through geologic time all the way to the Permian Seymouria exhibit. Topics were accessible for ages 9 and up.

Teaching

Courses officially taught and assisted with.

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

Teaching Assistant, Spring 2019, Univeristy 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."

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

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.

Physical Geology, LAB (GEOS 1104)

Teaching Assistant, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Virginia Tech

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.