I am interested in engaging the public in scientific discourse and welcome conversations with journalists, policy makers, and the general public about issues relating to the ecology of infectious diseases, vector ecology, invasion ecology, and women in science.
My current and past outreach activities include:
I am a founding participant in the University of Michigan’s Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Prison Science Panel. We aim to increase awareness of career path options in the sciences and accessibility of research to returning citizens.
I have volunteered as both presenter and facilitator for this 1 day seminar in past years. This project aims to provide role models for middle schoolers and increase gender diversity in STEM.
I have collaborated with teachers at the elementary school level to bring hands-on ecology activities into the classroom into several Bloomington-Normal IL area schools. Schools included both public (Fox Creek Elementary) and private (Bloom School, Mulberry School) institutions. Collaborative lessons included brainstorming habitat ideas and building a bug hotel, drawing insect lifecycles and observing mosquito life-stages, and discussing insect traits and petting hissing cockroaches.