In November 2022, we organized a three-week educational arts program--named Found Color--for students between 5-13 years of age in Palau, Micronesia, led by the artist Kimberly Collins Jermain (https://www.kimberlycollinsjermain.com/). Students were instructed on the use of color and diverse materials for the creation of fine art inspired by the country's natural resources. We organized boat trips to diverse sites, including coral reefs, sea grass beds and giant clam "cities" and encouraged the students to get in the water with their art supplies. Meanwhile, scientists shared stories about the life history and ecology of the local environment.

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I have fulfilled teaching assistantships for two undergraduate courses at Rice: Introductory Biology II (EBIO 202) in 2018 and Animal Biology and Physiology (BIOC 329) in 2019. I also participated in the Rice Center for Teaching Excellence class "Principles of Effective College Teaching". I have mentored several Rice undergraduates conducting independent research over the past four years, including two senior thesis students. I also brought two undergraduate students to Mo'orea for independent research projects. 

During my PhD, I conducted outreach through three separate programs: 1) A Rice graduate student-led program that brings interactive science lessons to inner city grade school classrooms in Houston in order to increase the accessibility of science and scientists (http://owlls.blogs.rice.edu/), 2) A collaboration with the Moody Gardens Aquarium in Galveston through which we provide monthly interactive sessions on the ecology and conservation of coral reefs, and 3) Individual visits to—and from—Houston grade schools about a variety of marine science topics.

During the pandemic, OWLS Outreach produced virtual lessons about Biodiversity, Natural Selection and Adaptation, and Ecosystems and Food Webs for students in grades 5-8.

Rice undergraduate student Jesse van der Meulen received a fellowship to conduct experiments in Mo'orea, in May-July 2021. Among other things, Jesse cultured bacteria from coral reef fish feces, conducted experiments to study how these bacteria affect coral health, and participated in reef surveys.

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Rice undergraduate student Kristen Rabbitt received funding to conduct fieldwork in Mo'orea, in June-August 2019. She collected samples of corals, fish feces, and sediment and water to quantify the abundance and diversity of live Symbiodiniaceae in environmental pools.

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Rice undergradaute researcher Rebekah Bryant presenting a poster at the Rice Undergraduate Research Symposium in 2019. Under my supervision she conducted an independent project on the abundance and diversity of virus-like particles in heat-stressed coral colonies

Graduate students working within the Mo'orea Coral Reef Long Term Ecological Research site presented research posters to Tahitian high school teachers in June 2019. Photo credit: Lauren Howe-Kerr

Visiting the Yorkshire Academy in Houston in December 2018 to listen to their presentations about marine conservation

Students in the SEEDS program at the Yorkshire Academy prepared several activities to learn about the benefits of marine conservation