An excerpt from my Statement of Teaching Philosophy:
My personal development and success as a scientist and an educator is the result of undergraduate and graduate mentors, peers, and collaborators pushing me to define my own visions for projects, independently execute my goals, and communicate results with equal clarity be it at national meetings or the Thanksgiving table. I love teaching and mentoring developing scientists at the undergraduate level, paying forward the support that I have received in my career. My broad goal as an educator is to both foster the development of the next generation of professional geoscientists and empower the broader student population to be informed citizen scientists regardless of their professional pursuits. For both groups of students, I believe that beyond the core curriculum of any class, it is of fundamental importance to develop effective communication skills both in written form and in verbal presentations. As a scientific mentor, I guide students through the process of research: how to formulate testable hypotheses, interrogate the landscape to test hypotheses via thorough fieldwork, analyze topographic and geochemical data back in the lab, communicate results to scientific peers, and explain the broader context and significance of a project to a general audience.
I love the spirit of education and exploration at liberal arts colleges. To me, the strength of liberal arts institutions is that they are built on a model of community that encourages students to connect not only with the content of their courses, but also with the intellectual and social resources that their peers and the faculty represent. Ideally, students leave college a better version of themselves with a new support structure made up of the human connections developed over their time at school. Fostering the trust and communication necessary to maintain such communities requires tolerance and humility on the part of both faculty and students. My role as a mentor and role model is not limited to my research students nor to the walls of my classroom. I am humbled by how much I learn from my students each year, and I strive to convey to them that I am a life-long learner - the world is complex! I am always trying to return the favor of a bit of insight about geology, or life, to all my students and colleagues.
I love the spirit of education and exploration at liberal arts colleges. To me, the strength of liberal arts institutions is that they are built on a model of community that encourages students to connect not only with the content of their courses, but also with the intellectual and social resources that their peers and the faculty represent. Ideally, students leave college a better version of themselves with a new support structure made up of the human connections developed over their time at school. Fostering the trust and communication necessary to maintain such communities requires tolerance and humility on the part of both faculty and students. My role as a mentor and role model is not limited to my research students nor to the walls of my classroom. I am humbled by how much I learn from my students each year, and I strive to convey to them that I am a life-long learner - the world is complex! I am always trying to return the favor of a bit of insight about geology, or life, to all my students and colleagues.
Get outside! Lectures need labs and research needs field work...
#SIESD
Course that I've taught, helped teach, and will be teaching:
Denison University
· Geomorphology – lecture and lab
· Planet Earth – intro-level lecture and lab
· Environmental Hydrology – lecture and lab
· Applied GIS for Earth & Environmental Sciences – lecture and lab
· Soils and Civilizations – intro-level lecture and lab
· Landscapes of Time – writing workship (W101) for first-year students
Washington & Lee University
· Geomorphology – lecture and lab
· Hydrology – lecture and lab
· Water Resources – intro level lecture
· Environmental Field Methods – Four week, field-based course focused on applied approaches to solving environmental problems.
Oberlin College
· Applied GIS – lecture and lab
· Living on Borrowed Water? – 100-level intro science class comparing and contrasting the sustainability of water resources in the Great Lakes Basin vs. the Colorado River Basin
· Earth Surface Processes – lecture and lab
· Oxford-style Tutorial on Earth Surface Processes – Intensive reading and writing seminar (for more information on the spirit of Oxford-style tutorials: (http://www.williams.edu/academics/tutorials)
Arizona State University
· Solving Environmental Problems – Capstone class for School of Earth and Space Exploration seniors (http://goo.gl/vcMjVQ)
· Water Planet lecture and lab (http://goo.gl/gMzS4C)
· Geomorphology lecture and lab
· Introduction to Geology lecture and lab
University of Vermont
· Introductory Geology lab
· Natural Hazards lecture and lab
Williams College (as an undergrad TA)
· Geomorphology lecture and lab
· GIS and Remote Sensing lab
· Introduction to Asian Art
Williams College (as an undergrad PE instructor)
· Nordic skiing
· Canoeing
Denison University
· Geomorphology – lecture and lab
· Planet Earth – intro-level lecture and lab
· Environmental Hydrology – lecture and lab
· Applied GIS for Earth & Environmental Sciences – lecture and lab
· Soils and Civilizations – intro-level lecture and lab
· Landscapes of Time – writing workship (W101) for first-year students
Washington & Lee University
· Geomorphology – lecture and lab
· Hydrology – lecture and lab
· Water Resources – intro level lecture
· Environmental Field Methods – Four week, field-based course focused on applied approaches to solving environmental problems.
Oberlin College
· Applied GIS – lecture and lab
· Living on Borrowed Water? – 100-level intro science class comparing and contrasting the sustainability of water resources in the Great Lakes Basin vs. the Colorado River Basin
· Earth Surface Processes – lecture and lab
· Oxford-style Tutorial on Earth Surface Processes – Intensive reading and writing seminar (for more information on the spirit of Oxford-style tutorials: (http://www.williams.edu/academics/tutorials)
Arizona State University
· Solving Environmental Problems – Capstone class for School of Earth and Space Exploration seniors (http://goo.gl/vcMjVQ)
· Water Planet lecture and lab (http://goo.gl/gMzS4C)
· Geomorphology lecture and lab
· Introduction to Geology lecture and lab
University of Vermont
· Introductory Geology lab
· Natural Hazards lecture and lab
Williams College (as an undergrad TA)
· Geomorphology lecture and lab
· GIS and Remote Sensing lab
· Introduction to Asian Art
Williams College (as an undergrad PE instructor)
· Nordic skiing
· Canoeing
