Teaching Assistant EEB 450
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Audience: upper level undergraduates students in EEB
Impact: 20 students
I assisted Lecturer Dr. John David Curlis and Graduate Student Natasha Stepanova with the teaching of EEB 450: the Biology of Reptiles and Amphibians in Winter semester 2025. I oversaw the courses' lab set up, included pulling and preparing specimens, and presented information for each family being studied, and hosted pre-exam office hours.
Museum Exhibit Designer
Audience: UM Museum of Natural History attendees of all ages
Impact: 200,000+ museum visitors
Working with my professor, Alison Davis Rabosky and two members of the UM Museum of Natural History team, we designed a year-long display case exhibit. The exhibit was focused on showing the power and importance of museum research collections through the lens of amphibians and reptile taxa. I assisted in every step from idea creation to installation, and de-installation, including the selection of specimens, the writing of text, rewriting of the text, transport of specimens. It was on display for one year, June 2024-2025, and overlapped with the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles Conference '24 in Ann Arbor.
SSAR Conference Planning Committee
Audience: Academic Society Members & Conference Members
Impact: 300+ conference attendees
I had an incredible opportunity to join my Lab in planning the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles conference hosted in Ann Arbor in 2024. I ran external communications for the conference including website design and moderation, and social media posts. I assisted with conference planning, scheduling, conference venue decor, film fest organization, merch design and ordering, and inter-department coordination for space reservations.
Science Olympiad Competitions
Audience: Middle and High School students interested in Michigan
Impact: 2,500+ students across two conferences every year
I have assisted with the conference planning, and organization of University of Michigan Science Olympiad competitions. I specialized in test writing or proctoring for the events: Ornithology, Forestry, Fossils, and Dynamic Planet.
Snake Week
Audience: Matthaei Botanical Gardens Attendees
Impact: 150+ attendees on this day, each year
In celebration of International Snake Day on July 16th, the Davis Rabosky Lab and the Matthaei Botanical Gardens hosted events all week about snakes. The Gardens are home to a stable breeding population of Mississauga Rattlesnakes, making it a prime place to teach people to appreciate snakes. During snake week these past two years I have lead nature walks searching for snakes, given talks on Michigan snake species, ran a snake Jeopordy/Trivia event, and educated guests on snake skull morphology.
UMNHM ID Day
Audience: Ann Arbor Community and UM Museum of Natural History attendees.
Impact: 500+ attendees on this day
For the annual ID Day event hosted by the UM Museum of Natural History, I displayed both live and specimens of amphibians and reptiles, and helped identify critters based off of photographs and snake sheds that members of the local community brought in.
Research Museum Center Tour Guide
Audience: Undergraduate students enrolled in intro biology classes at UM
Impact: 1000+ undergraduate students every semester
As part of my work in the Herpetology Collection at the Research Museum Center, I give tours of the wet lab collections to other undergraduates visiting the collections for class field trips. The tours for the BIO 173 Intro Biology Laboratory class take about 12 hours a day for 4 days, and includes 900+ students. Additionally, other upper-level classes include EEB 450: Herpetology and EEB 410: Seminar tour of the collections. During these tours, I talk about various ecological and evolutionary concepts such as sexual dimorphism, convergence, and divergence. Additionally, I explain the importance and the benefit museum collections provide to the study of ecology and biodiversity.
Genetics Simplified Video
Audience: Undergraduate students studying genetics
Impact: 300+ students every year
I created content being published on the Genetics Simplified, a website, which aims to create a database of educational videos that explain in detail topics relevant to genetics. One video I created is on the Founder Effect and a second, completed for the course BIO 305: Genetics on Sexual Selection.
Project Morph Poster Presentation
Audience: Ann Arbor Public schools elementary children, their families, and UM Museum of Natural History attendees.
Impact: 300+ attendees on this day
For the course EEB 450: Biology of Amphibians and Reptiles, I made a poster about the morphology of snake tails and how the form relates to their function in their habitat. This was displayed at the Scientist Spotlight: Snake & Salamander Showcase event at the UM Museum of Natural History.
Wittenbach Wege Nature Center
Audience: Lowell MI community members and Nature Center visitors.
Impact: 100+ attendees per year
Wittenbach Wege Nature Center is a local nature preserve, and agriscience and environmental education center. I helped with landscaping, community crafting & education events, and designing a small display case window seasonally.
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