Teaching:
Students need to build an understanding of core principles, develop critical thinking skills, and apply them to real problems. I feel that this is best accomplished through a pedagogy that employs a “learn-by-doing” approach, and one that emphasizes that working through problems and asking questions is not about finding a specific answer, but rather using the available empirical evidence to arrive at a logical interpretation. Students become more involved, take a greater interest, and retain important material better, if they are given the opportunity to actively engage in the classroom and the instruction. I have thus designed classes such that lesson plans involve experiments, critical-thinking exercises, and interactive gallery walks, as well as hands-on and integrative collaborations with partner laboratories and institutions via field trips and assignments. Regardless of the future career or academic interests of students, it is essential that they learn the principles of the scientific method and rigor through observation and experience, and how to develop proper experiments where applicable. I believe that these principles are particularly relevant in the many fields of Climate Science, where most of the research questions are societally relevant and impactful.
Students need to build an understanding of core principles, develop critical thinking skills, and apply them to real problems. I feel that this is best accomplished through a pedagogy that employs a “learn-by-doing” approach, and one that emphasizes that working through problems and asking questions is not about finding a specific answer, but rather using the available empirical evidence to arrive at a logical interpretation. Students become more involved, take a greater interest, and retain important material better, if they are given the opportunity to actively engage in the classroom and the instruction. I have thus designed classes such that lesson plans involve experiments, critical-thinking exercises, and interactive gallery walks, as well as hands-on and integrative collaborations with partner laboratories and institutions via field trips and assignments. Regardless of the future career or academic interests of students, it is essential that they learn the principles of the scientific method and rigor through observation and experience, and how to develop proper experiments where applicable. I believe that these principles are particularly relevant in the many fields of Climate Science, where most of the research questions are societally relevant and impactful.
Current Courses:
- ENV 675a: Topics in Environmental Discourse: Adaptation, Northern Arizona University
- ENV 675b: Topics in Environmental Discourse: Mitigation, Northern Arizona University
- ENV 675c: Topics in Environmental Discourse: Energy, Northern Arizona University
- EES 698: Topics in Quaternary Science, Northern Arizona University
- EES 698: Intersectional Climate Seminar, Northern Arizona University
- EES 687: Professional Development, Northern Arizona University
- EES 608: CSS Fieldwork Experience, Northern Arizona University
- COM 690: Science Communication Practicum, Northern Arizona University
- ENV/GLG 596: Quaternary Climate Change, Northern Arizona University (planned)
- EES 698: Earth’s Climate History / Paleoclimatology, Northern Arizona University (planned)
- ES 351: Paleoclimatology and Paleoceanography, Boston University, Adjunct Asst. Professor
- GEOSC 320: Geology of Climate Change, Penn State University, graduate assistant
- GEOSC 010: Geology of the National Parks, Penn State University, graduate assistant
- GEOSC 472: Field Geology, Penn State University, graduate assistant