Teaching
École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris, France)
Paleoecology and Paleoenvironments
In January 2021, I have been one of the speaker for the Biodiversity and Environment Masters course in Paleoecology and Paleoenvironments organized by Dr. Laurent Bremond at the École Pratique des Hautes Études .
University of Washington (Seattle, USA)
Biology 317 - Plant Classification and Identification
I have been a teaching assistant for Dr. Richard Olmstead (Spring 2019) and Dr. Audrey Ragsac (Summer 2019) in Biol317, an upper-level class that covers the concepts and principles of classification of seed plants, seed plant diversity, lab and field study of common plant families in Washington, and skill development for identification of species. Laboratory classes are based on local plants that I and other teaching assistants have been collecting in the field.
Collecting conifers in Washington (Spring 2019)
Biology 447 - The Greening of the Earth: Influence of Plants on the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems
I have been a teaching assistant for Dr. Strömberg in Biol447 an upper-level class that examines the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems focusing on how abiotic factors such as climate change have shaped the evolution of vegetation on Earth, and how the evolution of vegetation has influenced the evolution of animals. The class also introduces paleoecological techniques using the fossil collections of the Burke Museum.
Field trip to Emerald Creek, Idaho (Fall 2017)
Biology 180 - Introductory Biology (I)
I have been a teaching assistant for Dr. Scott Freeman, Dr. Mary-Path Wenderoth, Dr. Jon Herron, and Dr. Elli Theobald in Biol180, an introductory course that focuses on Mendelian genetics, evolution, biodiversity of lifeforms, ecology, and conservation biology. This course has allowed me to become familiar with cutting-edge teaching techniques used and developed by the Biology Education Research Group at UW, and based on active learning.
As a teaching assistant I have also taken part to the new "Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences" laboratory sections at UW, based on active learning.
As a teaching assistant I have also taken part to the new "Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences" laboratory sections at UW, based on active learning.
Biology 220 - Introductory Biology (III)
I have been a teaching assistant for several times in Biol 220, an introductory course that focuses on animal physiology, plant development and physiology.
Miami University (Oxford, USA)
Geology 112 - Understanding the Earth
I have been an instructor in Geology 112 (Winter 2012), an introductory class for non-major undergraduate students that focuses on the basic principles of mineralogy, sedimentology, stratigraphy, seismology, and volcanology.
Geology 204 - Survival on an evolving Planet
I have been a teaching assistant for Dr. Ellen Currano in Geology 204 (Fall 2011), an introductory class that focuses on the Earth history and the paleontological record.
Student Mentoring
During my PhD I have trained to phytolith extraction techniques about twenty undergraduate students and some of the graduate students in the Strömberg lab. I have mentored two undergraduate students who carried out a research project in the lab.
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Kailyn Zard completed her major in cellular, molecular, and developmental biology at UW in 2019. Kailyn has helped extracting phytoliths from modern plant material from Costa Rica. She was also awarded a Mary Gate Research Fellowship to study changes in grass phytolith size from the Santa Cruz formation during the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum.
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Claire Grant has graduated from the Honors program at UW in 2018, where she studied ecology, evolution and conservation biology. She is interested in the changing climate, and how conservation practices can best be implemented in the future.
Claire has helped me extracting phytoliths from modern plant material from Costa Rica in order to quantify phytolith production by different plant species and account for production biases in modern soil phytolith assemblages at Palo Verde . She is now an academic adviser in the Honors Program at UW. |
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In 2016, during my PhD adviser's sabbatical year, I mentored "Team Grass", a team of 5 students (Brittany McManus, Casey O’Keefe, Anna Schorr, Ashly Senske, and Elie Aboulafia). In this picture, I am with Brittany, Elie, Casey, and Ana presenting their research “Tracking the evolution of grasses and grasslands: Using phytoliths to unravel evolution-ecology links in deep time” at the Marie Gates Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of Washington.
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