TEACHING

I have encountered many types of classes and pedagogical approaches during my journey in higher education, a journey that began with a concentration in business administration, followed by a shift to environmental science, and finally a move to paleoanthropology and archaeology. These experiences have allowed me to develop strong sentiments toward situational teaching and learning and have strengthened my ability to engage with students with varied abilities, motivations, and learning styles who come from distinct backgrounds and skillsets. Whether as a teaching assistant, laboratory instructor, or lecturer, I always try and include my educational, field, and laboratory experiences and emphasize the global perspective of my research to engage students and help them excel in courses that may or may not be part of their core curriculum.

Courses Taught and Developed

I am currently the environmental science program coordinator in the Department of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Bryant University. In this role, I advise and mentor students majoring in Environmental Science or in Biology on the Ecology and Conservation track. Although we are a relatively small program, our students are poised to fill many roles in the Green Talent Shortage, especially those relating to company Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategies, sustainable investing, or the creation of actuarial indices relating to climate change and extreme weather events.

The course I teach, which include both science-majors and non-science-majors, are Biology II: Organismal Biology (SCI 253), Ecology (SCI 351), Human Impact on Land and Life (SCI 371), Introduction to Environmental Science and Sustainability (SCI 268), Issues in Environmental Science (SCI 463), Research Methods in Science (SCI 390), and Science Internship (SCI 391).

Bryant University is primarily an undergraduate business school, with only 14% of the student body being from the School of Health and Behavioral Sciences. One major issue encountered when trying to engage non-science-major undergraduate students with the environmental sciences is the development of course content that successfully meets students’ desire to learn about the relevancy of the sciences to a business education. A recent campus survey conducted by an Honors student in my fall 2022 Ecology course found that 71% of student participants become anxious by the thought of taking any science course, while 42% do not feel that the sciences are relevant to their academic or professional career goals. Additionally, many students confess some form of science anxiety.

One way I have found success in engaging non-science-majors is through the use of Bryant’s Data Visualization Lab (DVL), a state-of-the-art facility that excels in student engagement opportunities through its use of Oculus Meta Quest VR headsets. I was recently awarded a Faculty Innovation Grant from the Center for Teaching Excellence to develop new VR content for the Oculus Meta Quest headsets directly related to the environmental sciences. Through this grant, I have been filming content using an Insta360 ONE X 360-degree action camera to create virtual and augmented reality tours of different ecosystems and environments. Filming locations include Lake Placid (New York), Cape Cod National Seashore (Massachusetts), Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge (Rhode Island), White Mountain National Forest (New Hampshire), and Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming). Many students may have not yet had the chance to travel to such wilderness areas and therefore, the production of these videos is allowing faculty to virtually travel with students to these increase their appreciation of these natural spaces. This new content and experiences is essential in highlighting the ways in which the environmental sciences are relevant to business majors and their academic or professional career goals while helping to reduce science anxiety.

Commitment to Teaching Excellence

I was one of four recipients of the Bryant University’s Center for Teaching Excellence 2023-2024 Faculty Innovation Grant. My project, titled “Student Engagement with the Environmental Sciences through Virtual and Augmented Reality,” will help me develop new virtual and augmented reality content related to the environmental sciences that will help non-science-major undergraduate students understand why environmental sustainability is essential to all business, while also helping to reduce science anxiety.

In 2011, after completing my master’s degree, I participated in an On the Cutting Edge professional development workshop designed specifically for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows interested in pursuing academic careers. This program, sponsored by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers and funded by the National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education, brought aspiring scholars together with experienced faculty members from a range of institutional settings. Through the workshop, I became a more effective educator by exploring aspects of innovative teaching, designing both research plans and teaching portfolios suitable for an academic career, and learning strategies for documenting strengths and accomplishments in teaching and research. To this day, I continue to use the information gained during this workshop in my lectures and when instructing laboratory activities.

Teaching Out of the Classroom

Beyond traditional university and laboratory settings, I have mentored undergraduate and early-stage graduate students in field survey and excavation techniques through supporting roles in archaeological field schools and research projects in Tanzania and Zimbabwe. As someone who is a very hands-on learner, I feel that teaching in the field is one of the most effective ways to help train students so that they can one day lead their own excavations at archaeological sites, especially in their home countries.

Of course, mentorship out of the classroom does not need to occur in only the field. I am always willing to work with graduate and undergraduate students in a one-on-one basis and help advise on applying to university programs, grant and fellowship applications, conference and workshop presentations, the successful publication of peer-reviewed manuscripts, and other academic or research outputs.