Science education for all learners.
Despite my interest in science, the lack of inclusivity for different learning styles initially drove me away from STEM. Instead, I got my BFA in theatre performance. While theatre was not the right field for me, I learned a lot about how to engage and communicate with others. Now, I aim to personalize training and research to the individual goals and needs of students.
As someone who prefers a hands-on approach, I dedicated time during my doctoral program to developing and building innovative teaching tools that would assist students in engaging with curriculum. While at Oregon State University, I was awarded two Learning Innovation Grants. With supplementary funds from the Department of Crop and Soil Science and the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, I collaborated with two teams to build an Augmented Reality Sandbox and a 3D printed watershed model. I created curriculum integrating these technologies into a Soil Morphology lab.
Soil judging was an important part of my graduate experience. I served as the co-coach of the Oregon State University soil judging team and assistant coach of the University of Wyoming soil judging team. While at OSU, I worked with co-coach Jennifer Fedenko to organize and host the Virtual Regional Soil Judging Competition for Region VII.
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Augmented Reality Sandbox
Built in collaboration with Rebecca Lybrand and Jonathan Maynard.
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3D Printed Watershed Model
Built in collaboration with Rachel Villarreal, Adrian Gallo, Rebecca Lybrand, Jeff Hatten, and the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. photo by collaborator Rachel Villarreal.
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Soil Judging
Assistant Soil Judging Coach at UWYO and Co-Head Coach at OSU. Co-organizer of the 2019 Region VII regional soil judging competition (virtual).