Posted 22 Oct 2018 / 0
Scientific American “Beyond XX and XY: The Extraordinary Complexity of Sex Determination” I teach about sex and gender in a lot of my courses. For some courses, such as Evolution or The Evolution of Sex, these are basic concepts that need to be established in order to study reproductive behaviors. For other courses, such as Breeders, Propagators, & Read More
A Minor Post, Information Design, MSCI-362, The Evolution of Sex, Sex and Reproduction
Posted 24 Jul 2018 / 0
I have been in a bit of a publication lull for the last few years. It isn’t that I haven’t been engaged in a variety of scholarly activities, it is just that it has been awhile since any of them have reached the publication phase. I am hoping that things will begin to pick up Read More
A Major Post, Adaptation, Behavior, Behavioral Ecology, Communication, Cooperation, Emotion, Empathy, Evolution, Evolutionary Psychology, Human Evolution, MSCI-261, The Evolution of Play, My publications, Periodicals, Play, Psychological Adaptation
Posted 04 Jan 2018 / 0
I guess that some people are really good at planning out where they are going with their careers, but for me serendipity seems to play a really big role. Rather than charting a particular course and then plotting my expedition from “now” to “future goal”, I seem to be more apt to catch a wave Read More
A Major Post, Conferences, Conservation Biology, Ecosystem Services, Environmental Justice, Geography, Higher Education, MSWI-270C, Ecology, Environment, & the Anthropocene, Sustainability, Sustainable Urban Design, Teaching, Teaching Tools
Posted 10 Dec 2017 / 0
One of the activities that I regularly have my students complete in my Evolution course is called “Future Evolution“. The activity sends students on what most evolutionary biologists consider a fool’s errand: to try to predict the future evolution of some particular trait in some particular species. Making such predictions is really difficult for these basic reasons: Read More
A Major Post, Adaptation, Anthropogenic Change, Coevolution, Evolution, Evolution Education, Gene-Culture Coevolution, Human Evolution, Lesson Ideas, MSCI-260, Evolution, Prediction, Resistance Evolution in Parasites
Posted 15 Oct 2017 / 0
A sculpture created by Math & Science Scholar-in-Residence George Hart in 2016 The chairperson of my academic department at Pratt Institute, Carole Sirovich, will be retiring at the end of this academic year after well more than a decade of service as our leader. The Department of Mathematics and Science is currently searching for a new chairperson Read More
A Major Post, Department of Mathematics & Science, Higher Education, Pratt Institute, Science as a career, Sustainability, Teaching
Posted 09 Oct 2017 / 0
I have taught about the importance of nutrient transport by salmon in my Ecology course before, using an old Scientific American article. But this video is amazing. The footage of the salmon spawning and of blowfly maggots devouring a salmon carcass are phenomenal. A great teaching tool for talking about how community ecology drives nutrient Read More
A Minor Post, Decomposition, Ecology, Ecology Education, Film & Video, Film, Television, & Video, Freshwater Ecosystems, Keystone Species, MSCI-270, Ecology, Mutualism, Nutrient Cycling, Predation, Rivers & Streams, Temperate Forest
Posted 04 Oct 2017 / 0
One of the most rewarding things that I have been involved with professionally in the last year is also something that I haven’t yet had time to write about. It’s my beloved Faculty Learning Community (FLC), which was constituted just over a year ago. FLC’s are a nationwide movement in academia, and although their configuration and Read More
A Major Post, Art & Design, General Education, Higher Education, Pratt Institute, Teaching
Posted 07 Aug 2017 / 0
Mount Hood on the descent into Portland, Oregon Ah, what a privilege it is to get to go to academic conferences! A whole week during which I get to re-connect with old academic friends, make new connections, and do the backstroke in science. And it does not hurt a bit when the conference is in Read More
A Major Post, Conferences, Conservation Biology, Ecological Society of America, Ecology, Ecology Education, Ecosystem Services, Higher Education, Sustainability, Uncategorized
Posted 22 Jul 2017 / 0
The Chronicle of Higher Education “Why I Don’t Edit Their Rough Drafts” Over the past year, I have been entering a new phase of my teaching career. My home institution, Pratt Institute, has been undergoing a massive transformation of its general education curriculum. This transformation has triggered a variety of different modifications in who I teach and Read More
A Minor Post, General Education, Higher Education, Pratt Institute, Student Writing, Teaching
Posted 08 May 2017 / 2
One of the activities that I regularly have my students complete in my Evolution course is called “Future Evolution“. The activity sends students on what most evolutionary biologists consider a fool’s errand: to try to predict the future evolution of some particular trait in some particular species. Making such predictions is really difficult for these basic reasons: Read More
A Major Post, Adaptation, Animal Domestication, Anthropogenic Change, Coevolution, Cultural Evolution, Evolution, Evolution Education, Human Evolution, Lesson Ideas, MSCI-260, Evolution, Prediction, Uncategorized
