Who am I?
I am an enthusiast of the outdoors and natural history. As a professor at Baker University, I am afforded the amazing opportunity to engage in my passions for nature and learning, while being surrounded by great colleagues and students. At home, I enjoy spending time with my family while road tripping, hiking, paddling, hunting, and fishing. I really love to document my adventures in life through photography and have shared some of my photos on this site. I also spend a lot of time reading, especially classic novels and contemporary nature writing, which I have introduced in courses I teach at Baker.
My Philosophy on Teaching and Research:
I have always considered myself to be a teacher before a scientist, though I think that at their essence, they are part of one process. To me, being a scientist is about discovery and learning while being a teacher is about helping to bring those experiences to others. Teaching provides me not only an opportunity to help others learn, but also an opportunity for me to continue learning as well. It is this lifelong goal of learning that I hope to convey to students as I help them to understand the value of education on a daily basis in the classroom, laboratory, and field. As an instructor of biology, I hope to instill in my students a passion for lifelong learning and a constant desire to ask questions and debate the merits of ideas in critical and creative ways that help foster in them the same desire to continue learning that I’ve felt my entire life.
I am an enthusiast of the outdoors and natural history. As a professor at Baker University, I am afforded the amazing opportunity to engage in my passions for nature and learning, while being surrounded by great colleagues and students. At home, I enjoy spending time with my family while road tripping, hiking, paddling, hunting, and fishing. I really love to document my adventures in life through photography and have shared some of my photos on this site. I also spend a lot of time reading, especially classic novels and contemporary nature writing, which I have introduced in courses I teach at Baker.
My Philosophy on Teaching and Research:
I have always considered myself to be a teacher before a scientist, though I think that at their essence, they are part of one process. To me, being a scientist is about discovery and learning while being a teacher is about helping to bring those experiences to others. Teaching provides me not only an opportunity to help others learn, but also an opportunity for me to continue learning as well. It is this lifelong goal of learning that I hope to convey to students as I help them to understand the value of education on a daily basis in the classroom, laboratory, and field. As an instructor of biology, I hope to instill in my students a passion for lifelong learning and a constant desire to ask questions and debate the merits of ideas in critical and creative ways that help foster in them the same desire to continue learning that I’ve felt my entire life.
Because research is the fundamentally creative component of science, I use my own research experiences in the teaching environment to illustrate the creative aspects of biology. My major research interests include animal mating systems, community ecology, and general animal ecology. Most recently I have focused on questions such as “What causes divorce?” and “Which color signals are important in mate choice?” To answer these questions, I use songbirds, woodpeckers, and raptors as my model systems. I believe that research is a fundamental component of higher education that can only be fully appreciated through experience. Undergraduates that actively engage in research or who share in research experiences seem to develop a more comprehensive understanding of foundational biological principles. One of my goals as an instructor is to facilitate this experience by involving students in my own research and by encouraging them to develop their own research projects.
My Education (click for my CV):
PhD: Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University
Dissertation Title: “Mating System Dynamics in Passerine Birds”
MS: Raptor Biology, Boise State University
Thesis Title: “Behavioral Interactions of Bald Eagles at Lake Cascade, Idaho”
BA: Biology, Baker University
PhD: Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University
Dissertation Title: “Mating System Dynamics in Passerine Birds”
MS: Raptor Biology, Boise State University
Thesis Title: “Behavioral Interactions of Bald Eagles at Lake Cascade, Idaho”
BA: Biology, Baker University