Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor, 2019-20
Associate Research Scientist
Biological Anthropologist
My scientific research synthesizes spatial ecology and behavioral ecology in an effort to understand how animal behavior responds to underlying environmental factors. My main project is a study of behavior and microhabitat use in emperor tamarins (Saguinus imperator) and saddleback tamarins (Leontocebus weddelli), which uses LiDAR data in combination with on-the-ground primate follows to demonstrate how critical behaviors are distributed into different forest types.
Life Science Educator
Alongside my research, I teach undergraduate courses such as Evolution of Human Behavior, Biocultural Approaches to Sex & Gender, and Neurodiversity. During my PhD training, I served as a graduate student instructor in a variety of upper- and lower-division courses, including Evolution of Brain and Behavior and Principles of Conservation Biology. I also teach field methods at Los Amigos Biological Station (EBLA) in southeastern Peru, and I teach interdisciplinary research seminars at Mount Tamalpais College inside San Quentin State Prison.
In all three contexts, I use problem-based learning and universal design principles to encourage critical thinking and cultivate students' natural curiosity. As a fellow of the Berkeley Working Group on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), I developed a training module for the anthropology department to help make our courses more inclusive and accessible to a wider diversity of students, especially disabled and non-neurotypical students.
2023 Science Envoy