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.

June 16, 2022

USC Dornsife Dialogues

Public Q&A on dinosaurs and paleontology with myself and Dr. Jingmai O'Connor, a USC alumna, moderated by Michael Greshko of National Geographic.

November 1, 2021

Skype a Scientist

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!

March 17, 2021

Rutgers Geology Museum "Ask a Geologist" speaker

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

July 26, 2019

Project Scientist 

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.

September, 2017

Virginia Tech Museum of Geosciences Outreach

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!

2017

Virginia Tech Geofair and Minerals Show

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.

June 16, 2022

Burpee Museum's Paleo Fest invited speaker

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. 

March 20, 2021

Wrote an article for The Conversation

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.

January 11, 2020

Long Beach Comic Expo

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.

September, 2018

NHMLA's Dino Fest

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.

2017

Virginia Tech Center for Communicating Science Opening Ceremony

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.

September, 2016

Virginia Tech Science Festival

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.

February 16, 2022

A. Watson Armour III Research Seminar Series Guest Speaker

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.

March 17, 2021

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

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. 

November 14, 2019

Nerd Nite LA

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.

November 11, 2017

National Fossil Day

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.

May, 2017

"Up-Goer 5" Challenge

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."

November, 2014

Rutgers Geology Museum

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.