Establishing a connection between people and nature is critical for long-term successes in biological conservation.
In the classroom: I aim to be a great science teacher by providing fundamental knowledge, active learning experiences, and by inspiring students with my passion for conservation and my love of science. At Ohio Northern University, I teach courses including herpetology, marine biology, cell biology, microbiology, introductory biology, and tropical biology (study abroad in Ecuador). My previous teaching experience included undergraduate courses in Introductory Biology, Herpetology, and Ichthyology at Case Western Reserve University, and a study abroad Tropical Ecology and Conservation Field course in Ecuador in collaboration with Grand Valley State University (GVSU). The study abroad courses at ONU and GVSU will run during alternate years and provide students with a blend of field ecology and cultural studies making for an exciting introduction to the multifaceted field that is conservation science.
I also take great pride in the students I am mentoring during their research in the field, in the lab, and abroad. For example, ONU undergraduates Lauren Govekar, Stephanie Drellishak, Sophia Beery and I are conducting a research project examining the bacterial communities of Gulf Coast crab species in relation to shell-rot disease. Lauren and Stephanie presented the team's preliminary analyses (culture-based results) at the Ohio Academy of Sciences conference this past April 2017. Now this team is working on a manuscript presenting MiSeq assessment of the symbiotic bacterial communities of ghost crabs, hermit crabs, and blue crabs.
This past spring, GVSU Masters student Dana Wessels accompanied me on my Fulbright funded field research to examine the effects rainbow trout farming has on the ecological communities of the Mindo and Alambi regions of Ecuador. While my focus was on the amphibian life in this cloud forest habitat, Dana's specialty, and master's project focus, was on the invertebrate communities of the streams used for this aquaculture practice. Stay tuned for more information on multiple manuscripts in preparation!
With assistance from myself, Tim Krynak (Cleveland Metroparks), and Eric Snyder (GVSU), Kent State University undergraduate (KSU) Alexa Wagner and GVSU undergraduate Alex LaValley teamed up to study sleep-site fidelity in Anolis gemmosus during the 2016 Ecuador study-abroad trip. Alexa and Alex just received notice that their research note will be published in Herpetological Review! I could not be more proud!
I also had the opportunity to mentor Laura Hill in amphibian care and husbandry, helping her to learn the skills she utilizes on a daily basis while working with critically endangered amphibians as a keeper at Henry Doorly Zoo's Amphibian Conservation Area.
I have been fortunate to mentor graduate students including GVSU Ms student Anna Harris. As adjunct at GVSU I serve as a member of Anna Harris's thesis committee. Anna successfully defended her thesis which described the freshwater macroinvertebrate community as a function of energy transfer in cloudforest streams at Reserva Las Gralarias, Ecuador. I also mentored Michael Monson, Ms student at Cleveland State University, in his laboratory work examining gut bacterial community structure of Masai Giraffes from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
In the classroom: I aim to be a great science teacher by providing fundamental knowledge, active learning experiences, and by inspiring students with my passion for conservation and my love of science. At Ohio Northern University, I teach courses including herpetology, marine biology, cell biology, microbiology, introductory biology, and tropical biology (study abroad in Ecuador). My previous teaching experience included undergraduate courses in Introductory Biology, Herpetology, and Ichthyology at Case Western Reserve University, and a study abroad Tropical Ecology and Conservation Field course in Ecuador in collaboration with Grand Valley State University (GVSU). The study abroad courses at ONU and GVSU will run during alternate years and provide students with a blend of field ecology and cultural studies making for an exciting introduction to the multifaceted field that is conservation science.
I also take great pride in the students I am mentoring during their research in the field, in the lab, and abroad. For example, ONU undergraduates Lauren Govekar, Stephanie Drellishak, Sophia Beery and I are conducting a research project examining the bacterial communities of Gulf Coast crab species in relation to shell-rot disease. Lauren and Stephanie presented the team's preliminary analyses (culture-based results) at the Ohio Academy of Sciences conference this past April 2017. Now this team is working on a manuscript presenting MiSeq assessment of the symbiotic bacterial communities of ghost crabs, hermit crabs, and blue crabs.
This past spring, GVSU Masters student Dana Wessels accompanied me on my Fulbright funded field research to examine the effects rainbow trout farming has on the ecological communities of the Mindo and Alambi regions of Ecuador. While my focus was on the amphibian life in this cloud forest habitat, Dana's specialty, and master's project focus, was on the invertebrate communities of the streams used for this aquaculture practice. Stay tuned for more information on multiple manuscripts in preparation!
With assistance from myself, Tim Krynak (Cleveland Metroparks), and Eric Snyder (GVSU), Kent State University undergraduate (KSU) Alexa Wagner and GVSU undergraduate Alex LaValley teamed up to study sleep-site fidelity in Anolis gemmosus during the 2016 Ecuador study-abroad trip. Alexa and Alex just received notice that their research note will be published in Herpetological Review! I could not be more proud!
I also had the opportunity to mentor Laura Hill in amphibian care and husbandry, helping her to learn the skills she utilizes on a daily basis while working with critically endangered amphibians as a keeper at Henry Doorly Zoo's Amphibian Conservation Area.
I have been fortunate to mentor graduate students including GVSU Ms student Anna Harris. As adjunct at GVSU I serve as a member of Anna Harris's thesis committee. Anna successfully defended her thesis which described the freshwater macroinvertebrate community as a function of energy transfer in cloudforest streams at Reserva Las Gralarias, Ecuador. I also mentored Michael Monson, Ms student at Cleveland State University, in his laboratory work examining gut bacterial community structure of Masai Giraffes from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.
GVSU Tropical Ecology and Conservation Class of 2014. Sampling invertebrates at RLG in Ecuador. Photo by Max Spencer.
