Assistant Professor, Indiana University

As a geoscience educator I emphasize approaching the world with curiosity. Throughout my classes, I hope students learn to critically evaluate data, form hypotheses, and test ideas. My aim in any course I teach is to ensure students take away an understanding and appreciation of the fundamental concepts but also to emphasize the societal impacts of geoscience research. I am a proponent of hands-on learning through demonstrations and exercises and aim to help students make connections between the material in the classroom and the larger world around them.

discussing processes at play in Petrified Forest National Park, AZ

Instructor at Indiana University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Isotope Geochemistry (Spring 2021): Isotope Geochemistry is a graduate level course that introduces isotope geochemistry topics with a focus on stable isotope systems. 

Mineral Resources (Spring 2021): Mineral Resources explores ore deposit types and processes, with a geochemistry emphasis, for undergraduates. 

Earth Materials (Fall 2020): Earth Materials is an undergraduate mineralogy/petrology course within the department which introduces students to topics in these core courses and attracts both majors and non-majors.


Teaching Assistant at the University of Arizona, Department of Geosciences

Petrology (Spring 2018): As a teaching assistant for Petrology laboratory I led a three-hour laboratory class each week with approximately 15 students. Laboratory exercises focused on the principles of microscopy, rock and mineral identification in hand sample and thin section, and petrologic environment and associated implications. 

Mineralogy (Fall 2016): As a teaching assistant for Mineralogy laboratory I led a three-hour laboratory class each week with approximately 20 students. Laboratory exercises focused on mineral identification, mineral properties, and crystallography. 


TEACHING ASSISTANT AT ILLINOIS STATE UNIVERSITY, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, GEOGRAPHY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Field Camp (Summer 2013): As a teaching assistant for ISU Field Camp I instructed evening lectures and in-field exercises pertaining to understanding and mapping the stratigraphy and structure in Wyoming and South Dakota. This was a six week immersive field course.


INSTRUCTOR AT UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA SKY SCHOOL (2015-2017)

The UA Sky School provides two- to five-day immersive field-based science inquiry programs at the summit of Mt. Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains in Tucson, AZ. As an instructor I mentored students from 4th through 12th grade as they developed and implemented their own, original authentic field research experience. Some group projects included: 

  • designing and building a bellows from natural materials to heat limestone collected from the summit in order to measure mass loss. This was then used to calculate CO2 sequestration from the development of carbonate materials on Mt. Lemmon during the geologic past
  • core and age date trees growing in two locations, on the summit and in a water-saturated gulch, to determine the influence of water availability and forest fire damage on tree growth and prosperity
  • gathering natural materials to create homemade lye, which was turned into soap
 
introducing students to the Sky Islands of Tucson
introducing students to the Sky Islands of Tucson
giving background on the geologic history of Tucson
giving background on the geologic history of Tucson
a Sky School group with their homemade soap
a Sky School group with their homemade soap
discussing the unique geology of hoodoos
discussing the unique geology of hoodoos
an intro to the mineralogy of the Catalina Mountains
an intro to the mineralogy of the Catalina Mountains
discussing different rock types on Mt. Lemmon, which includes a whole slew of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks
discussing different rock types on Mt. Lemmon, which includes a whole slew of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks
learning the geologic history of Mt. Lemmon through a geologic map game
learning the geologic history of Mt. Lemmon through a geologic map game
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