Career Summary

Education

Proposed Research Program - Amphibian

Proposed Research Program - Neuronal Networks

Proposed Research Program - Human Imaging

Teaching Philosophy

I believe that teaching is more than an element of an academic career, it is a vocation. It is my belief that while the presentation of information is an essential element of teaching, one must never lose sight of the necessity to encourage each student's individual pursuit of understanding. It is also important to know that to be a good educator, one must be both enthusiastic and entertaining in presenting the course material.

To me the two most important aspect of an education is learning how you learn and the ability to solve problems quickly. My teaching philosophy is that these two aspects that are gained by being intellectually challenged. In class, particularly in introductory courses, where students are bombarded with a large amount of new information I encourage students to think about, assimilate and integrate the course material rather than simply act as stenographers. In-class demonstrations and directed discussions are important teaching tools I use to help solidify the sometimes confusing information. Having students think of course material outside the classroom by starting each class with short discussion of recent class topics in the news, and ending each class with home thought assignments also help intellectually challenge the students. My high energy and passion for science helps me achieve my goal of bringing course work alive and leading students to their own eureka moment.

Teaching science is not limited to the classroom, the lab is where theories are investigated. My lab teaching philosophy is to make abstract concepts applied to develop critical thinking. Engaging the students in the lab with interesting problems to solve, having them critically analyze their results, mature their writing skills in lab reports, and being intellectually stimulated by in-lab quizzes are important for developing problem solving skills. The lab is also the starting point for many students embarking in careers at the bench, thus it is important that teaching labs bridge the gap to research labs. My experiences at the bench teaching research assistants, graduate students and fellow post-docs will benefit students getting comfortable applying the scientific method.