As the demand for trained evolutionary biologists has grown, the U.S. has become increasingly aware of its deficiencies in training women and minorities. This problem is compounded in the area of ecology and evolution where the decline in newly trained scientists doing basic research over the past two decades is precipitous. In 1992 minorities earned just 10.7% of all science bachelors degrees. In 1994 about 3,300 females and 4,500 males received life science PhD's. Of these less than 3% were minorities (Science 271: 1921). To train those biologists who will be researchers, resource managers and educators of the early twenty-first century, the severe and complex problems that contribute to the attrition of potential female and minority scientists must be addressed. The most prominent factors identified as contributing to the under representation of minorities and women from the science pipeline are: weak background in science and math; lack of self-confidence in ability to perform science; misconceptions about the nature of careers in science; and the lack of exposure to, and opportunity within, the scientific community. I address each of these factors directly by creating a cooperative hands-on learning and research environment and providing students with direct and frequent interaction with research scientists to dispel misconceptions about science careers. As a step towards achieving this goal I obtained a NSF CAREER grant that incorporated an educational component designed to nurture interest in biodiversity and extend the perceived career options of inner city 7th and 8th grade minority students.

The topics I most enjoyed as a student were those that revealed the excitement, controversy and confusion that characterize scientific research. I found I most easily mastered a subject when I saw how facts and principles were put to use by active researchers. As a teacher, I aim to go beyond the traditional textbook examples, which are often dry and uninteresting, and use current research to illustrate a point. I believe in exposing students to the original scientific literature complete with its controversies. For example, I believe a core component in a Population Genetics class is the debate concerning the definition of a species. In addition, in a class with a laboratory section I will emphasize real experiments as opposed to simple observations.

There seem to be two extremes in advising graduate students. One is for the advisor to assign a thesis topic that fits into the larger research program of the laboratory. This gives students research experience and guarantees that their results will be at least somewhat interesting. The alternative approach is to give students relatively little direction, encouraging them to generate their own ideas for a thesis topic. This will train students to be creative and independent and it may lead to highly original research. It runs the risk, however, of letting students flounder. The purpose of a dissertation is to train individuals to conduct independent research. Consequently, I lean towards the latter approach but believe students should initially be encouraged with a small project to promote enthusiasm. One such project by my graduate student Matt Dean is currently in press. There are currently three post-doctoral fellows in my lab.

Grants and Publications

Research Interests

Back to BugCamp