I am passionate about community outreach and work hard to share my love of science and the natural world with the public. My approach to outreach is to emphasize the role science plays in our everyday lives and the wonderful, fascinating, and unexpected things you can find right in your own backyards and communities. I firmly believe that knowledge of science and natural history can help us appreciate the world around us in new ways and results in better informed, conscientious, and involved individuals. I further use my background in creative writing to reach a wider audience and help make science approachable, fun, and relevant.
To read a column I wrote bi-weekly with a fellow graduate student please click here.
To read a blog post I wrote about my research, click here.
To read a blog post I wrote about Frank Hall Science Night, an event I co-organized at a suburban elementary school, click here.
To read a column I wrote bi-weekly with a fellow graduate student please click here.
To read a blog post I wrote about my research, click here.
To read a blog post I wrote about Frank Hall Science Night, an event I co-organized at a suburban elementary school, click here.
SELECTED OUTREACH ACTIVITIES
- Punk Science, 2017-2018, Pinhead Institute, Telluride, CO
- Established connection with the Pinhead Institute in Telluride, CO to bring lessons about natural selection, genetics, and evolutionary biology using live guppies to rural classrooms. Work with the Pinhead Institute includes classroom and public demonstrations, as well as teacher workshops.
- Expand Your Horizons Northern Colorado, 2016-2018, Fort Collins, CO
- Member of committee to organize one day hands-on science conference for middle school girls in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming; developed and presented interactive activities to teach genetics, DNA extraction, morphology, behavior, and evolution using live guppy demonstrations
- Outreach coordinator, 2012-2013, Graduates in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
- Initiated and developed outreach events for graduate students in the School of Integrative Biology
- Solicited volunteers and coordinated activities
- Established and maintained contacts with local libraries, schools, and other entities
- Urbana Farmer’s Market, Spring 2011 - 2014, Urbana IL
- Interacted with and educated the general public about the importance of reptiles in local ecosystems using live reptiles
- Presented information about local animals and plants using live plants, live fish, bird and mammal skins, and live and mounted insects in a project entitled "Backyard Ecology"
- Leal Science Night, Spring 2011 - 2014, Urbana, IL
- Organized volunteers for a local elementary school’s annual “Science Night”, grades K - 5
- Presented a “Backyard Ecology” theme, with an emphasis on native and invasive species
- Activities included planting a native plant to take home, learning about local pollinators, live local fish, live reptiles, and native and invasive bird and mammal skins
- Additionally, students learned how to record behavior of individual fish, and prepared ethograms to study behavior of pets, squirrels, and birds at home
- Over 175 children and their families attended; we received very positive feedback from students, parents, teachers, and the coordinator
- Garden Hills Elementary presentation, Spring 2013, Champaign, IL
- “What do skeletons tell us?” presentation with two other graduate students to accelerated 4th and 5th grade students, with emphasis on how skeletons can provide information on behavior and adaptation
- Utilized interactive powerpoint presentation, live opossum, skeletons, and dyed embryos
- Established a relationship with the curriculum coordinator to continue presenting ecology and evolution activities to the accelerated math and science students
- 2 groups with 15 total students
- Orpheum Children’s Museum, Fall 2012, Champaign, IL
- Developed activity for children aged 3 – 8 to introduce concepts of biodiversity and invasive species using simple games
- Approximately 35 children attended
- Smile Politely column, Fall 2012, Champaign-Urbana, IL
- Wrote a column describing my research for the local blog Smile Politely
- Established a connection with Smile Politely, currently co-writing a weekly popular science column with another graduate student