I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen Jay Gould
I believe that science can be a vehicle for greater social equality. Doing science is empowering, Additionally, for science to remain relevant in the public discourse, we must reinforce the importance of our work by fostering connections between institutions of research, students, and our local communities. Through outreach and mentoring I hope to build personal relationships between the public, students, and universities.
Mentoring Providing research opportunities for undergraduates is crucial for shaping the next generation of scientists and bringing diverse perspectives to our field.
Undergraduates Maria Johnson performed analyses to characterize compositional change in the plant communities at McLaughlin Reserve, CA. Maria's work has shown that exotic dominated, non-serpentine communities have exhibited directional change from 2006 to 2016, while native dominated serpentine communities have not. Maria is currently using other multivariate methods to identify individual plant species associated with this community change.
Joseph Black used ordination to characterize the change in the plant community at Tumamoc Reserve, AZ. His work identified community change from 2000 to 2008, but little change in more recent years. Community structure across all years was strongly associated with plant relative growth rates. Previously, Joe conducted a demographic study of native and exotic Erodium spp. at Tumamoc. He found that native Erodium has greater survival and seed production in disturbed habitats, despite the greater abundance of the exotic congener. Photo credit: Shana Welles
I have had the pleasure of working with Alexus Carzares, Ashley Davis, Jake Wilke, Christina Winkler, and Rhiannon Bauer, who all provided crucial laboratory assistance.
Sky School From 2015 to 2019 I served as an instructor with the University of Arizona's Sky School. The mission of this program is to bring inquiry based, scientific learning to students of all ages and backgrounds. This program worked with K-12 students in their classrooms, schoolyards, and the natural spaces around Tucson, AZ. As part of this multidisciplinary team of graduate students, I would walk students through the scientific method, guiding them through the the process of making observations, asking questions, developing hypotheses, collecting and analyzing data, and presenting their work. In addition to school programs, we also set up outreach booths at local events and mentored high school and middle school students with science fair projects of their own design. It was a pleasure to introduce young minds to concepts in ecology and evolution through the Sky School program and watch students realize that science is simply a process designed to answer questions in their everyday lives.