As a first-generation college student who attended Centre College - a teaching-focused liberal arts college in Danville, KY - I place great importance on excellent teaching. As a CIRTL-certified teacher and as a recepient of the NIH-IRACDA INSPIRE postdoctoral fellowship, I am trained in scientific teaching. I use evidence-based learning approaches, particularly active learning, that are known to improve student learning and retention. I have applied these techniques working with both undergraduate and graduate students (see my C.V. for a list of courses). When developing new courses and lectures, I take a backward design approach, beginning by defining my learning objectives and structuing the content and activities around meeting these objectives. Based on my academic, research, and teaching experiences, I am qualified to teach courses that range in focus from evolutionary biology to bioinformatics.

Relevant links:

• An R Shiny App I developed to introduce students at William-Patterson University and New Jersey City University to my research on CUB

I have independently mentored many aspiring scientists from various backgrounds, resulting in multiple publications that include two senior author manuscripts (see C.V.). My mentoring approach is highly individualized: I work with the trainee to determine their goals and the skills needed to achieve those goals. Students I have trained have been very successful, with two of my trainees – Vatsal Jain and Opetunde Akeju – producing manuscripts from their projects.

Relevant links:

• Akeju and Cope Genome Biology and Evolution 2024
• Jain and Cope Genome Biology and Evolution 2024

As an NIH-IRACDA fellow, my approach to promoting DEI in STEM and academia is highly-integrated into my teaching and mentoring. For example, active learning approaches are known to disproportionately benefit students from historically-marginalized groups (HMGs). I have experience teaching and mentoring diverse students, including an introductory module to R programming for bioinformatics at William-Paterson University, a minority serving institution in Wayne, NJ. I strive to create a more inclusive environment for those lacking my privileges, with the ultimate goal of promoting the retention and success of students from HMGs in STEM.