Teaching

Academic

Swarthmore College Environmental Studies Program

I developed two interactive undergraduate courses, Plants and People and Nature Rx, both with overarching goals of empowering students to more deeply connect with the natural world. To learn more about Plants and People, check out this short interview or my video lectures. Please contact me directly for syllabi for either course.

University of Wisconsin-Madison

I developed and taught the undergraduate course, Plants and Humans. Check out my syllabus here.
I was a teaching assistant for undergraduate and graduate level courses, including Ethnobotany, Survey of Botany, and Introductory Biology.

The Farm at St. Joseph Mercy Health System

I taught standards-based field trips about agriculture and nutrition for first, third, and fifth graders at Michigan's first hospital-based farm.

Internships

I developed curricula and led internship programs at The Farm at St. Joseph Mercy Health System for full-time summer interns and for students in the University of Michigan School of Public Health Dietetic Internship Program. All internships emphasized community engaged learning, interdisciplinary communication, plant classification, and the connections between sustainable agriculture and human nutrition.

Check out curricula for summer interns here and dietetics interns here.

Mentoring

I’ve mentored undergraduate and graduate students carrying out independent research and projects from the University of Michigan Medical School and School for Environment and Sustainability, as well as the University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Botany. A sampling of these mentorships is listed below.

Growing a healthy community: exploring the impact of a hospital-based farm

I mentored a fourth-year medical student in qualitative research methods, survey development, and academic writing in her research about how volunteering affects volunteers.

Enhancing knowledge sharing and collaboration among farms in healthcare

I mentored a master’s student in project design and informational video development in her creation of a video toolkit to facilitate knowledge sharing among farms in healthcare. You can check out her videos here (link coming soon).

Ethnobotany in Mexico and the United States

I mentored an undergraduate McNair Scholar in interview methods and the process of obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval in her research about how botanical knowledge changes upon immigration from Mexico to the United States.

Comparison of genetic diversity and morphological diversity of oca categorized as "misitu"

I mentored an undergraduate in molecular genetics laboratory techniques and data analysis for her independent study to characterize the diversity of a complex group of Andean tubers.

For a full list of my teaching experience, please see my CV.