I truly enjoy sharing my love of science with students of all ages, and I have worked with a number of organizations over the years to link my own research with educational programs. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for SEEDS, a Blacksburg, VA based non-profit with a mission to "inspire a natural curiosity and love for the environment in children and the young at heart through discovery learning, nature education, teacher support, and civic awareness." SEEDS runs the Blacksburg Nature Center, hosts summer field camps, and partners with numerous local organizations to facilitate projects that benefit the local community.  

While at the University of Colorado, I worked with Science Discovery, an experience-based science education program that reaches more than 30,000 students, teachers, and community members throughout Colorado each year. I was a leader for science wilderness camps in Colorado and the Pacific Northwest, and led numerous campus tours and local field activities for elementary and middle school students.  

I also spent two years as a GK-12 Fellow with Project Extremes, where I worked with local elementary and middle school teachers in the Boulder Valley School District to improve inquiry-based scientific education in classrooms. One of the main goals of the project was to improve students' understanding of adaptation and evolution through a focus on extreme environments, and we led classroom activities and field trips to the salt marshes and the high mountains of Boulder County. As an extension of this project, we developed a collaboration with the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) team in Antarctica, and I (along with several other grad students and an 8th grade teacher)  spent 5 weeks in Antarctica during 2009-10 conducting research and developing educational activities related to Antarctic science. You can read more about this experience at the Project Extremes Antarctica blog we developed during our time in the field.