OUTREACH
UC Santa Barbara Titan Arum Bloom, Summer 2013
Illuminated the the general public (over 2,000 visitors) about how amazing plants are by highlighting the life strategies that have evolved in Amorphophallus titanum (1:02 and 2:18 in video linked above)
Harvard University Life Sciences Outreach Program/MCB-HHMI, Spring 2010, 2008
Worked with high school students and teachers from underserved local schools in the undergraduate teaching labs of Harvard University, helping students isolate, amplify, and analyze their own DNA while discussing basic principles of genetics and heredity
Harvard Integrated Life Science (HILS) Student Advisory Group Representative, Harvard University, 2006-2007
Participated in monthly meetings with Assistant Dean Jonathan McNally addressing a variety of graduate student needs
OEB Graduate Student Representative, Harvard University, 2005-2006
Science In The News, Harvard University, 2005
Distilled the science of evolution into a presentation geared toward the general public entitled “Evolution: just a theory?” as part of a student run outreach program
Annual Genetics and Genomics Training Program Symposium, “Perspectives on Genetics in the 21st Century”, Harvard University, March 2005
Co-organizer
Collaborated with classmates in the NIH Genetics and Genomics Training Fellowship program to select a symposium topic and list of speakers. Arranged logistical aspects of the symposium such as speaker travel plans, lecture room locations, and banquet preparations. The symposium was attended by over 400 people from Harvard and the local community. Invited speakers included Drs. James F. Crow, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, James D. Watson, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, Mary-Lou Pardue, and Matthew S. Meselson
Project SEED Program, American Chemical Society, June 2002-August 2002
Served as the mentor to Project SEED student, Tashaka Merriweather (Richmond High School – Richmond, CA), guiding him through the many facets of University level research in the Freeling Lab, Dept. of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley
Roosevelt Elementary School, Santa Monica, CA, Spring 2001
Invited speaker
Introduced elementary school students to paleontology and earth history as part of the second grade Earth Sciences curriculum and used fossils and casts to provide a hands-on experience on the Age of Dinosaurs
With Chanel, the Titan Arum, just as “she” started to get “her” stink on!
Lucky enough to get to spend some quality time with Dr. James Crow (above) and Dr. Luca Cavalli-Sforza (below) as an organizer of the symposium “Perspectives on Genetics in the 21st Century”
In the field with a Triceratops nasal horn. Fossils are a great way to introduce scientific concepts to kids!