After receiving my Ph.D., I completed my post-doctoral studies at Emory University in the Department of Pharmacology, with Dr. Raymond Dingledine. We worked to identify the agonist binding site of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor by constructing receptor chimeras. Chimeras were characterized pharmacologically through transient expression studies in Xenopus laevis oocytes.

From 1996-1998, I developed web and software resources used to teach Biology. I worked with Cogito, Inc., developing An Electronic Companion to Complete Nutrition and also developed Website learning tools for Thompson Publishing. I have since endevoured to use cutting edge software and web tools in all of the courses that I teach.

In August 1998, I returned to the Emory University Department of Biology as a Lecturer for the Biology 141 and 142 introductory courses. I have also taught the Genetics course and the Experimental Biology course. In 2005, I was awarded the Emory College Center for Teaching and Curriculum Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Director of Undergraduate Laboratories (2005-Present).

The Biology Department revised its introductory series to include more genetics and cell biology in the Fall of 2005. To complement these changes, all of the introductory labs were completely redesigned. We are currently using a module-based approach that has students learning certain topics like enzymology in greater depth. They are taught skills like protein isolation and spectrophotometry and then asked to design their own experiments with the proper controls. In addition, students work on case studies that we have devised to help them integrate the infomation they cover in lab with that covered in lecture. Furthermore, the students are asked to present their results to the rest of their lab in an effort to improve their science communication and presentation skills. Overall, this Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach has been successful.

In the Fall of 2006, 65 desktop computers and 5 projectors were added to the introductory labs. The 5 computers at the front of the labs allow the instructors to present to the students and allow students to give their two Powerpoint presentations each semester. The computers in the labs are used by the students to search out information that will help them answer questions they have generated in their case studies. The computers are also used to teach students how to use important software programs like Excel to generate graphs and CN3D to examine the 3-dimensional structures of proteins like beta-lactamase. In addition, we are using the computers to search NCBI for sequences, which we download in lab and analyze by various techniques. Having the computers in the lab has opened up another dimension in our ability to carry out DNA and protein sequence analysis and bioinformatics in general.

The entire Biology 141/142 lab component has been ported to the Blackboard platform. Students can access all required readings, documents, and lab protocols that are required weekly for each lab and thus arrive better prepared to lab. Video clips describe basic techniques and the use of specific instruments, such as "how to use a micropipette, microscope, pH meter, centrifuge, and spectrophotometer". Students are asked to review these procedures prior to lab but also have access to them in lab to review while they are learning to use a new instrument or technique. In this way, the instructor has one more resource he/she can employ to demonstrate the complex laboratory techniques we wish our students to learn and apply.