Teaching
In the classroom
During graduate school, I was an Assistant in Instruction for GEO102: Climate: Past, Present and Future and GEO103: Natural Disasters. These were the Department of Geosciences’ two largest classes, for non-science majors, and I led lab sections for both classes. I believe studying our planet is essential for scientists, humanists, and policy-makers alike, and viewed these classes as an opportunity to develop in my students problem-solving skills, teamwork, and an enhanced appreciation for the Earth system. You can see the planar nature of magmatic injections in our Jell-O volcano above, and our trip to the Princeton Art Gallery to analyze the environmental information conveyed in the painting to the right. In my future classes, I hope to similarly integrate active hands-on learning techniques.
As a postdoc, I am now pursuing Yale’s Postdoctoral Certificate of College Teaching Preparation. I took part in the semester-long Yale Scientific Teaching Course, attended Advanced Teaching Workshops on effective mentoring and inclusive teaching, engaged in teaching observations, and am now drafting syllabi for my first potential classes.
In the field & lab
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to mentor six summer research interns funded by the Princeton Environmental Institute during graduate school. I explained and engaged my interns in the motivation, objectives, and existing knowledge for my projects; taught laboratory protocols and observational and sample collecting techniques in the field; and even passed on some (hopefully) transferable life skills, like camping and field cooking. With numerous hours driving across my field area (or performing heavy liquids zircon separations), I had the opportunity to discuss with my interns life in general, music (everyone can agree on The Beatles), their classes and future plans, and shared with them what it’s like to do a PhD. Three of my interns are now pursuing PhDs in Earth science!
In the residential college
One of the most rewarding aspects of my time at Princeton was serving as a Resident Graduate Student in Forbes College. Living amongst first years and sophomores for three years, I was an assigned graduate mentor for ~30 students per year, planned multiple college-wide events (such as the finals week study break pictured here), and ate most of my meals in the dining hall with undergrads. I talked through problems big and small, shared wisdom on how to make the most of available academic resources, and gave them a peek into the life of a Geosciences PhD student.