Title

Associate Professor of Biology

Biology
Genetic Counseling

Expertise

Protein biochemistry, Protein folding and aggregation, Biology Education

Profile

Although, I received my Ph.D from MIT in 2004 for studying protein folding and aggregation, my true passion has always been in biology teaching and education. I was an education research post doc for two years in the HHMI Education Group at MIT and focused primarily on biological education research and the importance of concept-based teaching and learning in biology.

I have recently recognized the need for better biological preparation at the high school level and am actively involved in several secondary education efforts. I am currently a faculty advisor to the United States Biology Olympiad Team involved in exam preparation, student advising and instruction, and program redesign. I am also involved in counseling area high school biology teachers in methods to incorporate college level molecular biology labs into their classrooms.

In light of my interest in protein structure, I am studying the importance of learning and manipulation of biological macromolecules in 3-dimensions. I am currently part of a collaboration with the Biology, Physics, and Academic Computing Departments at MIT to create a free, scalable 3D visualization software engine that may easily be manipulated by students, but has the flexibility and functionality to be used by advance protein biochemists. I am hoping to incorporate this program into the Brandeis curriculum.

Here at Brandeis, I will be teaching the introductory biology lab course and a graduate level molecular biology course. I hope to incorporate elements of protein folding and aggregation studies into the introductory biology laboratory and to mentor undergraduate and graduate students biology students interested in pursuing teaching careers.