B.S., The College of William and Mary, 1993
Ph.D., University of Georgia , 1999

I am interested in scientific studies of laboratory teaching. In particular, I am working on the effect of inquiry-based learning in laboratory classes on student understanding of the nature of science and the scientific process. To this end, in collaboration with Dr. Larry Blumer at Morehouse College, we have developed the bean beetle Callosobruchus maculatus as a model system for inquiry-based lab classes in biology.

In addition to pedagogy, I study questions at the intersection of behavioral ecology, physiological ecology, and life history evolution. I use a combination of field, laboratory, and modeling experiments to address questions in these areas. Most recently, students in my lab have been examining the effect of resource quality of variation in lifespan in bean beetles.