I have two primary research interests: 1.) the evolution of sociality, or how and why animals get together and help each other, and 2.) how physiology interacts with ecology, or how animal structures and movements relate to their environment. Animal social interactions can describe everything from parental care and nest guarding to cooperative acquisition of resources and group rearing of young. My interest in this concept spans species, from insects to mammals. For three winters I studied grey wolf social behavior in Yellowstone. Later, as a graduate student at the University of Colorado, I studied social behavior and evolution in honeybees. While at UC Boulder, I focused on how wax that is secreted by different bee species ultimately function as nest structures with remarkable mechanical and thermal properties. At the University of California in Berkeley, I worked on a postdoctoral fellowship studying the biomechanics and evolution of bumblebee flight.
keywords
Evolution of social behavior, Honeybees, Bumblebees, Bee behavior, Evolution of insect flight, Science Pedagogy
ARSC 1550 - Making the Self: Tools for Well-Being and Success in College
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Helps first-year Arts and Sciences students build the skills, learning techniques and agency needed for success at CU and beyond. Taught in an experiential, workshop-format, this course focuses on developing a student's critical and analytical skills along with their practices of investigation and creative problem-solving. Using materials in a variety of media (text, visual, moving image, etc.), the course will explore different ways of knowing and learning. In an active small-group setting, students you will examine and define the concepts that lay the foundation for their college education.
EBIO 1030 - Biology: A Human Approach 1
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2018 / Fall 2018
Lect. Studies the principles of biology and their implications. Central theme is humans and the environment, emphasizing ecology, natural resource conservation, and the interrelatedness of a growing human population. Recommended for nonscience majors.
EBIO 1040 - Biology: A Human Approach 2
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019
Lect. Continues EBIO 1030, focusing on the function of the human body, and maintenance of dynamic equilibrium in the internal environment in the face of a continually changing external environment. Discusses factors influencing these homeostatic conditions and how and why they change. Recommended for nonscience majors. Recommended prerequisite: EBIO 1030 (minimum grade C-).
EBIO 1100 - Biology and Society
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Lect. Studies the dynamic relationships between the biological sciences and society. Areas of inquiry include interconnections between ecological and evolutionary theory and concepts and emergent questions being raised on a societal level. Students will explore topics such as human populations and sexual reproduction; biological factors affecting sociability and social patterns; environmental change with a focus on global biodiversity and the services to people; natural resource management; and public health. Recommended for majors and non-majors.
EBIO 1210 - General Biology 1
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
Lect. Provides a concentrated introduction to molecular, cellular, genetic, and evolutionary biology. Emphasizes fundamental principles, concepts, facts, and questions. Intended for science majors.
EBIO 1220 - General Biology 2
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Summer 2019 / Spring 2020 / Summer 2020 / Spring 2021 / Summer 2021
Provides a concentrated introduction to organisms, homeostasis, development, behavior, and ecology. Emphasizes fundamental principles, concepts, facts,and questions. Intended for science majors. Recommended prerequisite: EBIO 1210 (minimum grade C-).
EBIO 2070 - Genetics: Molecules to Populations
Primary Instructor
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Summer 2019 / Summer 2020 / Summer 2021
Lect. and rec. Covers principles of genetics and developmental biology at levels of molecules, cellular organelles, individuals and populations; asexual and sexual life cycles; heredity. Recitations allow discussion of genetics problems and implications of genetic principles and provide demonstrations and simulations of genetic processes. Intended for sophomore majors in EBIO. Recommended prerequisites: EBIO 1210 and EBIO 1220 and EBIO 1230 and EBIO 1240 (minimum grade C-). Credit not granted for this course and EBIO 2640.
