I am a biologist with interests in mitochondrial DNA and sex chromosomes.
I am a learner and a teacher with interests in STEM identity, belonging, and metacognition.
I am an Associate Director of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Teaching and Learning.
I promote inclusion in STEM and higher ed by facilitating belonging and creating accessible education resources.
In cooperation with Vanderbilt's Center for Teaching, I co-led a STEM TA session centered on promoting belonging in the classroom. For this session, I developed materials that identified ways in which students from underrepresented groups may not feel like they belong in STEM classrooms. These materials fostered discussion around ways to promote feelings of science identity and belonging in the STEM classroom.
I am a founding member of and participant in the Inclusivity in the Biosciences Association , where we promote inclusion of and information about underrepresented groups in the sciences at Vanderbilt. In 2019, I co-authored an awarded TIPS grant which proposed and produced a flipbook chronicling the experiences of Black women in STEM. This flipbook is meant to provide community for Black women in STEM, by offering a space for Black women scientists to share the highs and lows of their experiences.
I work to provide entry to science to all kinds of learners. One way that I do this is by generating materials that are fun and relatable to many kinds of student. Most often, I create games for learning. I have recently begun working on a Twine game for high-school and college-age science-curious students. I have developed many other engaging pedagogical resources.