I teach the Senior Research Seminar in Environmental Sciences, a year-long research and writing course that builds student skills that can be applied to growth and careers beyond Berkeley. In my courses, I focus on building community in the classroom help students build confidence in a supportive classroom environment. Although many students in my course work with mentors for their research activities, in my course students learn scientific communication skills such as scientific writing and how to present research.
To complete the ES Senior Thesis, students in my course learn skills to traverse large and complex tasks into manageable units, how to map the landscape of the scientific literature specific to their research area, and how to write in the style of their disciplinary subfield. Using concept maps to connect ideas, frameworks and models to layout logic and language, and examples from the literature to design research projects and analyze data students become independent in their learning by the end of the course.
Current Teaching
Senior Research Seminar in Environmental Sciences (ESPM 175A&B/H175A&B, 3+1 Units).
University of California, Berkeley. Continuing Lecturer, year-long capstone course in research methods for senior-level Environmental Sciences majors for their Senior Thesis.
Sustainable Water & Food Security (ESPM 177A, 4 Units).
University of California, Berkeley, Summer Session. Continuing Lecturer, upper-division course.
Past Teaching
Senior Research Seminar in Environmental Sciences (ESPM 175A&B/H175A&B, 3+1 Units).
University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2009-present. Continuing Lecturer, year-long capstone course in research methods for senior-level Environmental Sciences majors for their Senior Thesis. ESPM 175A/H175 is the Fall course which covers project planning, data collection, and writing of the Introduction and Methods. ESPM 175B/H175B is the Fall course which covers data analysis, presentation in the ES Senior Research Symposium, and writing of the results and discussion sections. **Received the UC Berkeley Faculty Award for Outstanding Mentorship of Graduate Student Instructors (2012).
Sustainable Water & Food Security (ESPM 177A, 4 Units).
University of California, Berkeley, Summer 2020-present. Continuing Lecturer, upper-division course. Course is taught in summer, usually in Session D.
Introduction to Environmental Sciences (ESPM 15, 3 Units).
University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2020. Continuing Lecturer, introductory-level physical and biological sciences course for lower-division and non-majors.
Introduction to the Methods in Environmental Sciences (ES100/ESPM 100ES, 4 Units).
University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2010 & 2011. Lecturer, research methods course for junior-level Environmental Sciences majors in preparation for the Senior Thesis. Prerequisite to Senior Research Seminar in Environmental Sciences.
General Biology (BIO 1B, 3 Units).
University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2012. Lecturer, semester course for lower division undergraduate students, taught laboratory and discussion.
Biology of Aquatic Insects (ESPM 115B, 2 Units).
University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2009 & 2011.
Aquatic Entomology.
University of Minnesota, Lake Itasca Field Station, Summer 2007. Instructor, taught a four-week, 3 unit, intensive, field-oriented course focused on the taxonomy, life history, and ecology of lotic and lentic aquatic insects.
Graduate Student Teaching
General Biology (BIO 1B). University of California, Berkeley, Spring 2007. Graduate student instructor, semester course for lower division undergraduates, taught laboratory and discussion.
Aquatic Insects mini-course. University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2005. Instructor, 9-week workshop on the orders of aquatic insects for a small class of UC Berkeley students.
Current and Fundamental Topics in Aquatic Ecology. University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2005. Co-organizer, semester graduate student seminar series examining literature in aquatic ecology with an emphasis on pairing recent with foundational publications. Co-organized with Raphael Mazor.
Biology of Aquatic Insects (ESPM 115B). University of California, Berkeley, Fall 2003. Graduate student instructor, semester course with Dr. James L. Carter (lecturer), taught lab portion of the course. **Received the UC Berkeley Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award.