About Me 

I am a native of Western Pennsylvania, growing up in the woods about 40 minutes north of Pittsburgh.  My dad instilled a love of nature in me from a young age.  I went to college at Muskingum University, a small liberal arts school in New Concord, Ohio.  I loved going to a liberal arts school and being able to take classes in everything under the sun.  There I developed a passion for teaching and majored in middle childhood education with licensure to teach science, language arts, and reading.  In addition to my heavy science load, I also picked up minors in French and English.    Upon graduation, I was fortunate to accept a teaching job with Garaway Local Schools, a rural district in Amish country Ohio, about a half an hour south of Canton.  I spent 6 years there, one teaching 8th-grade science, and five teaching 5th and 6th-grade science and math. While teaching I took classes through Muskingum to earn my master's degree and education with an emphasis in both talented and gifted education and science education.  Finding that I missed traditional science, I also took advantage of Mississippi State's innovative teachers in geoscience program, where through a combination of online classes during the school year and fieldwork in my spare time and in the summer, I earned my master's of science in geosciences.  

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While I loved teaching, I felt a calling to leave rural Ohio and find a new adventure.  Through a series of google rabbit holes, I learned about the field of geoscience education research and found that it could be a perfect way to blend my passions for the geosciences and for teaching.   I ultimately decided to go to North Carolina State University to pursue my PhD, and when my advisor found an exciting opportunity for a job at Auburn, she graciously made arrangements for me to join her there.  At Auburn I have had tremendous opportunities to teach in the classroom and the field, travel, do awesome research, and continue to broaden my knowledge of the geosciences.  The PhD program in Earth System Science allowed me to train across disciplines and gain a deeper understanding of biogeochemistry; geobiology and paleosciences; Sedimentary geology and Earth history; and geomorphology and surface processes, which all enriched my own geoscience education research.

 

At the University of Indianapolis, I am fortunate to work closely with faculty in other science disciplines as well as the School of Education.  I teach introductory courses in Earth-Space science for both general education students and elementary education majors as well as courses in historical geology, paleontology, meteorology, hydrogeology, oceanography, and physical geography.   I also am a faculty fellow in the Strain Honors College.  

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In my spare time, I love traveling, learning languages, reading (I'm currently on a Game of Thrones Kick), carving out time for my widely dispersed friends, and going for a good run.  My parents still live in my childhood home outside of Pittsburgh and my sister lives in Durham, NC.