Email: tca38@drexel.edu
Tell us about your background and your current research project.
I am originally from the U.S. (North Carolina), and I got my PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology from Drexel University in 2024. The focus of my dissertation work was chimpanzee tool use variation, using remote camera traps to see how a community of the understudied Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee subspecies modify plant parts to “fish” termites out of termite mounds.
As a postdoc, I pivoted to STEM education research and currently work with the Center for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning Excellence (CASTLE). I spent most of grad school as a TA, and while pursuing opportunities to learn more about effective teaching, I became interested in understanding how to help all students in a classroom be successful. As part of CASTLE, I am working on projects exploring faculty incentivization for inclusive and effective teaching, and investigating interventions that benefit STEM career trajectories for students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Additionally, I teach some of the courses in CASTLE’s graduate minor in Undergraduate STEM Education, and I help facilitate professional development opportunities for graduate students and postdocs through the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL).
What are your career goals, and how does your current postdoc position support your long-term career trajectory?
Ultimately, I hope to remain in academia. I still have a strong desire to participate in research, teaching, mentorship and service. My research interests are wide open and variable, but I hope to continue exploring ways that we can make undergraduate STEM education more accessible and successful for all students. I continue to love teaching, particularly in courses related to ecology and animal behavior, and I hope to be able to design and implement new, innovative courses in these areas. My postdoc with CASTLE is providing me with a wealth of experience that will support all these endeavors by giving me the opportunity to teach graduate courses of evidence-based pedagogy, work on qualitative research projects, and support the Drexel community through professional development workshops on education.
What are the key areas or issues you are most passionate about supporting through the DPA?
I am very passionate about professional teaching development for graduate students and postdocs. While there is a wealth of careers for us outside of academia, many of us may ultimately be aiming for faculty positions, and indeed PhD programs are largely designed to prepare students for academia. In spite of this, graduate students traditionally receive very little training in effective teaching and may be expected to learn how to teach on the fly. I want to provide opportunities for the postdoc community at Drexel to learn about effective teaching and designing teaching-related materials for academic job applications so that members of our community 1) can be successful in their pursuit of an academic job, and 2) can be successful educators in their fields and promote effective teaching techniques for the benefit of their students.