Faculty and Staff Directory

Introduction

Before coming to UW Tacoma I was a post-doctoral researcher in the Systematic Botany and Mycology Lab of the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Maryland. There I worked on nomenclature and taxonomy of invasive plant pathogens and helped to develop a database covering all published fungal species, searchable at http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/index.cfm. I did my Ph.D. research at UW Seattle in the College of Forest Resources. I studied the effects of forest harvesting on ectomycorrhizal fungi of Douglas-fir seedlings and trees, in the Cedar River and Green River, the watersheds of Seattle and Tacoma, respectively.

Current Research

I am a forest mycorrhizal ecologist by training, with my current focus on inclusive excellence and broadening participation in STEM. I am the Director of the NSF S-STEM funded program, ACCESS in STEM, which supports STEM-interested students at UWT. I lead a research project examining how to most effectively support first and second year STEM-interested students; as part of this, I study the impact of faculty and peer mentoring and early course based research experiences on academic performance and persistence, self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and motivation in STEM.

Teaching

• TBIOL 120 Introductory Biology I: Ecology, Evolution, Genetics
• TBIOL 130 Introductory Biology II: Cell and Molecular Biology
• TBIOL 140 Introductory Biology III: Plant and Animal Physiology
• TESC 200 Environmental Seminar
• TBIOL 236 Sustainable Agriculture
• TBIOL 378 Environmental Microbiology
• TBIOL 340 Ecology and its Applications
• TBIOL 404 Neotropical Field Studies. Has been taught in Costa Rica and Peru.
• TBIOL 432 Forest Ecology Field Studies
• TESC 495 Environmental Research Experience
• TBIOMD 490/491 Global Health Experiential Learning

Affiliations

• Puget Sound Mycological Society
• The Mountaineers

Academic Service

• Curriculum for the Bioregion steering committee member