Future Academic Scholars in Teaching Fellows

The FAST Program is for doctoral students with interests in teaching, learning, and assessment in higher education who are enrolled in programs associated with the Colleges of Natural Science, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Engineering, Social Science, Human Medicine, Nursing, Osteopathic Medicine, and Veterinary Medicine. 

This program was developed in response to the national need to prepare future faculty for the changing needs and expectations in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. FAST also complements the efforts of the CIRTL Network (historically an NSF-funded project involving MSU and 45 other research-intensive universities across the U.S. and Canada).

Students selected for this one-year program will:

1. Participate in weekly meetings with alternating large group (steering committee and fellowship recipients) and journal club meetings (only fellowship recipients), as well as a couple of workshops with outside speakers. These meetings are typically held late afternoons-early evenings on an agreed upon day.
2. Complete pre- and post-program surveys.
3. Propose, conduct, and evaluate a focused teaching intervention/assessment teaching-as-research project based on challenges students may face while learning in your discipline.

Completing this project will take additional time outside of regular meetings. Assistance with projects is provided by a mentor, selected by each fellow, and MSU CIRTL Steering Committee Members. 

Fellows are encouraged and supported to disseminate project results on websites, at conferences, and/or in peer-reviewed journals. 

Travel to conferences to present FAST projects will be provided by the Graduate School. Each fellow will receive a $5,000 fellowship to help support project expenses and/or to disseminate project findings. 

Fellows are also highly encouraged to participate in online CIRTL seminars, courses, and MOOCs.

Former FAST Fellows describe the value of their peer-mentoring experiences as part of their professional development:

To apply, applicants should submit the following and meet the requirements below:

• Applicants should be enrolled full-time in a program leading to a doctoral degree, be in good academic standing, making progress on their degrees, and be on campus for the entire 2025-2026 academic year
• Complete the FAST Application Form (see the top of this page)
• Submit a current C.V. (a maximum of 2-pages)
• Submit a brief essay (~500 words) that describes:
  • your career goals as related to the FAST Program
  • why you are interested in FAST
  • describe one or two questions you have about challenges students may face while learning in your discipline that could be developed into a FAST project
  • how you anticipate that participation in the FAST Fellowship Program will enhance your professional development
  • what contributions will you make to the FAST Fellow community.

Awards will be made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panel, have demonstrated academic achievement, are committed to a career involving teaching, have not participated in a teaching fellowship program at MSU, and show potential of future achievement as scholars and educators.

Applications must be received by March 21, 2025 at 5:00p.m. Announcements of fellowship recipients for the 2025-2026 academic year will be made by April 18, 2025. For further information or questions regarding the program, please contact Rique Campa.

American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Education Conference, San Antonio, TX -- 2025
Implementation of Time Management in an Introductory Microbiology Course
Heather Murdoch and Phillip Delekta

2026 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science @ Scale Conference, Phoenix, AZ (Accepted Feb 2026)
Title: Science Simplified: Training Undergraduates to Bridge Health Communication Gaps
Authors: Samantha Musso, Erica Wehrwein

2025 National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO
Title: The Impact of Prior Communication Experience on Achieving Literacy Recommendations
Authors: Samantha Musso, Ally Hopman, Kirstin Parkin, Erica Wehrwein
*Biology Education Research Graduate Student Poster Award First Place Prize Winner

American Society for Microbiology Conference — San Antonio, Texas — 2025
Investigating Time Management Outcomes in an Introductory Microbiology Course
Heather Murdoch and Philip Delekta

Council on Social Work Education Annual Program — Kansas City, MO — 2024
Building Critical Consciousness Skills in MSW Students Through the Co-creation of a Rubric
Joana Tolchinsky

Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research Annual Meeting – Minneapolis, Minnesota – 2024
Making Connections: The Impact of Modelling Connections Between Science and Society on Society Literacy
Sophie Buysee

Botany 2024 - Grand Rapids, Michigan – 2024
Making Connections: The Impact of Modeling Connections Between Science and Society on Scientific Literacy
Sophie Buysee

International Association of Packing Research Institutes Symposium – The Netherlands, University of Twente – 2019
Student Sense of Belonging in a Large Classroom Introductory Packing Course.
A. Harben and L. Bix

American Society for Horticultural Sciences (ASHS) Conference --Washington D.C. -- 2018
Improving Critical Thinking and Writing through Scientific Literature Review in a Greenhouse Production Course
Kellie J. Walters and Roberto G. Lopez

American Fisheries Society -- Tampa, Florida -- 2017
Pedagogical Effects on Student Learning and Satisfaction in an Introductory Fisheries and Wildlife Course
Molly J. Good and Henry (Rique) Campa III

2025 - 2026 FAST Fellows

Ayesha Maliwal Bundy is a second-year doctoral student in the Program in Mathematics Education (PRIME). Her research lies at the intersection of pedagogy, trauma, and identity, with a focus on how different teaching strategies contextually shape learning outcomes for diverse student populations in undergraduate mathematics classrooms. She is passionate about helping redesign mathematics courses and curriculum to be student-centered, inclusive, and to foster a sense of belonging and healing. As a FAST Fellow, Ayesha would like to explore how undergraduate mathematics instructors conceptualize and enact active learning in their classroom and connect it with student experiences and learning outcomes.

Chandler Hendrickson is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Plant Biology and the Molecular Plant Science program. His research focuses on how microgreen algae (Chlamydomonas) regulate iron homeostasis. Before arriving at Michigan State University, he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and an Associate of Science in Natural Science from Ferris State University. Having worked in various research labs, he found the most joy in teaching friends and family about the technology and methods he used. He confirmed his passion for teaching during his first year of graduate school as a teaching assistant. As a FAST Fellow, Chandler seeks to understand how students' perception of course relevancy influences the persistence of both Biology and non-Biology majors. In his free time, Chandler enjoys gardening, reading, playing video games, and chess.

Tessa Jordan is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology. Her research focuses on understanding pancreatic cancer metabolism and how it differs from healthy tissue, with the ultimate goal of identifying metabolic targets that can be leveraged for novel treatment strategies. As a FAST Fellow, she is interested in exploring how different types of instructors (e.g. ULAs, GTAs, and professors) influence student learning and outcomes. During her undergraduate career, Tessa served as a Supplemental Instruction Leader (SIL), facilitating study sessions outside of class to encourage independent learning. This experience sparked her passion for education and shaped her research question, as she noticed that students often found SI sessions especially valuable for building confidence with material that had been difficult to grasp in class. She hopes this research will help inform teaching and learning strategies that can be adopted across different instructors to promote student success.

Shashini Marasinghe is a fifth-year graduate student in the Department of Mathematics. Her research focuses on quantum low-dimensional topology, with particular interest in the volume conjecture for Seifert fibered and hyperbolic 3-manifolds. She has developed a strong record of teaching and mentoring over the past four years, serving as an instructor of record, teaching assistant, and Lead TA, in addition to mentoring undergraduates in both coursework and research. As a FAST Fellow, she plans to investigate how the integration of {\LaTeX} into "transition to proofs" courses can support students in strengthening their proof-writing skills and techniques. When not immersed in mathematics, she enjoys practicing oil portrait painting and bringing energy to the dance floor through Zumba.

Ian McCrary is a third year PhD candidate in the Cell and Molecular Biology (CMB) program. His research focus is cell specification in early development, specifically in preimplantation embryos. He hopes this research can contribute to IVF and stem cell culturing methods. Ian has a lifelong passion for public speaking. He has experience leading lectures while TAing in undergraduate life science classes and teaching English as a second language in Madagascar. He feels happiest at work when seeing an audience connect with technical or difficult material and firmly believes that a good instructor can make any topic interesting. He is interested in studying pedagogical techniques, especially as they relate to student outcomes in comprehension and enjoyment of class participation. As a FAST Fellow, Ian would like to pursue a teaching as research project studying student retention of material under low and high stress assessment conditions. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and new daughter, watching as many movies as he can, cooking, and board gaming.

Jordan Parker is a doctoral candidate in the School of Criminal Justice (SCJ) at Michigan State University. His topical research interests include community-based violence interventions (CVI), firearm violence, program evaluation, juvenile justice and delinquency, and police misconduct. He is a community-engaged researcher working with practitioners and justice-involved individuals to improve individual and community outcomes. Jordan’s teaching experience includes serving as an instructor of record in the School of Criminal Justice, as well as providing various guest lectures and completing multiple teaching workshops. Jordan is also passionate about providing undergraduate students with hands-on research experiences, having served as a former McNair Advisor and a graduate facilitator for the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) at MSU. As a Fast Fellow, Jordan is interested in examining the impact of providing first-generation students or students from underrepresented identities with hands-on research experience on enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills, communication skills, and their decision to enroll in a graduate program.

Maura Philippone (she/her), MA, CCC-SLP, is a third-year PhD candidate in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders. As a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist (SLP), her research investigates how SLPs can leverage innovative approaches and technologies (e.g., XR and game-based speech approaches) to enhance treatment outcomes for adults with neurogenic voice and speech difficulties. As a FAST Fellow, Maura's project will focus on enhancing neuroanatomy education for MSU CSD students. Maura and her colleague co-designed "CN Vision," a novel, gamified cranial nerve review tool that uses augmented reality (AR) technology to bolster students' neuroanatomy knowledge application in real-world contexts. Supported by this fellowship, she is leading a two-phase study to conduct user experience/usability testing (phase 1) and experimental testing (phase 2) of the "CN Vision" tool.

Devashish Saurav After completing a BA (Hons.) and MA in History from the University of Delhi, Devashish pursued an MSc in Heritage Conservation and Management the Wildlife Institute of India, UNESCO C2C. Devashish is currently a PhD researcher at Michigan State University in the Department of Anthropology. His academic interests lie in understanding how communities live on and with the land, maintaining relationships with landscapes through everyday practices of resource use and management. He is particularly interested in human–non-human interactions, including how animal health and care contribute to sustaining pastoral livelihoods and food systems. Devashish’s current research focuses on issues of food security and conservation-induced dispossession in India, exploring how these processes impact livestock-dependent communities and their ability to sustain their pastoral ways of life.

Farnaz Tajik is fourth year PhD candidate in the Department of Plant Biology and her research is in biology education. Her interdisciplinary projects bring psychology and education together to study students' perception about plants. Farnaz is a former K-12 teacher and is interested in teaching and learning in higher education. Therefore, by joining this program she aims to improve her abilities, skills and knowledge in the relevant area as well as strengthen what she has learned in practice by conducting a mentor-guided project.

Bella Molina is a 6th year PhD student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Her research is on classical novae with evolved companions, with a focus on recurrent novae in radio wavelengths. She has tutored math and physics, been a supplemental instructor and a TA, as well as a mentor to an undergraduate student. In addition to this, she has been co-director of the Physics and Astronomy Research Experiences for Drew Scholars (PAREDS) program for five years. As a FAST Fellow she is interested in how we teach physics and astronomy. She would like to investigate methods for building student resilience and the effectiveness of highlighting the importance of STEM topics in student lives as a way of increasing student engagement and motivation in class. After graduation she will be looking for jobs as a community college professor teaching physics or astronomy. Outside of work Bella likes to read and practice cello.

2024 - 2025 FAST Fellows

Danielle M. Cadet is a second-year PhD student in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at Michigan State University, specializing in Diversity, Youth, and Family Development. Her current research focuses on an ecological understanding of critical consciousness development. Her diverse educational background includes a Master of Education in Learning & Design from Vanderbilt University, a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Bryn Mawr College, and various professional certificates. Dani brings a multidisciplinary approach to her work. Her academic journey is complemented by significant experience in pre-college programs, where she has served as a counselor, program manager, and curriculum specialist since 2019. As a FAST Fellow, Dani aims to develop innovative teaching strategies that integrate their expertise in data analytics, instructional design, and organizational behavior. She aims to create engaging learning experiences that enhance students' critical thinking skills and prepare them to address complex societal issues related to diversity, development, and human ecologies.

Sona Chitchyan is a second year PhD student at CMSE working in Computational Education Research Lab(CERL). Sona got her Master's degree from the department of Physics and Astronomy at MSU. Afterwards, they got into education research, focusing on studying the process of teaching computation in the context of astrophysics and improving astronomy education by integrating computation. As a FAST Fellow, Sona is working on designing an assignment for CMSE202 that explores using astronomical concepts to practice computational skills in Agent Based Modeling (ABM). In their free time they enjoy playing racquetball and watching TV shows. Sona is also interested in contributing to open source codes in astrophysics.

Maggie Conway is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Chemistry. Her current research focus is investigating electrochemical reduction of nitrate to value-added products, such as ammonia and hydrazine. Throughout her time at MSU she has taught multiple laboratory courses in the Chemistry and Biological Sciences departments. As a FAST Fellow, she is interested in how students connect and apply knowledge and resources they have gained in their previous coursework as they tackle new challenges, particularly in the laboratory setting. Outside of the lab, Maggie enjoys hiking with her dogs and various creative pursuits – lately, those are making stained glass and cooking (though never at the same time!).

Maria Cruciani is a second-year doctoral student in the Program in Mathematics Education (PriME) and the Department of Statistics and Probability. Her research interests lie within statistics and data science education, exploring the effects of equity-centered pedagogical and curricular interventions on students’ motivational attitudes toward learning statistics. She is also interested in teaching statistics for social justice and helping students develop critical statistical literacy. Maria is passionate about helping all learners understand statistics and tailoring her teaching to the abilities and interests of each student. As a FAST Fellow, she would like to pursue a teaching as research project aimed to improve undergraduate preservice teachers’ confidence in applying statistical concepts to real-world issues.

Deepak James is a fourth-year PhD student in the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University. His research explores the interaction of environmental contaminants, such as PFAS, with various human proteins using computational chemistry methodologies. As a FAST Fellow, Deepak is interested in exploring ways to improve student performance on basic chemistry concepts such as Intermolecular forces by using web-based computational chemistry software compared with traditional methods.

Heather Murdoch is a fourth year PhD candidate in the Microbiology, Genetics, and Immunology program. Her research seeks to understand how the two-component system PhoPR, and carbon source availability allows Mtb to arrest its growth and survive within the macrophage, resulting in drug tolerance. This will lead the lab into more testable drug targets, and lower treatment times with antibiotics. As a FAST Fellow, she wants to pursue teaching-as-research project that is aimed to improve undergraduate students’ skills in managing their time in an active learning classroom. In active learning classrooms, students are responsible for taking control of their learning, and this is an essential skill that will help them not only in this class but help develop essential skills for real-world challenges that may arise when wearing the many hats that society expects.

Samantha Musso is currently a third year PhD student in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology (PHMTOX), pursuing a dual degree in Environmental and Integrated Toxicological Sciences (EITS). Her research is centered on understanding the effects of modifiable risk factors, such as obesity and exposure to environmental chemicals, on the initiation and progression of cancer. In particular, Samantha’s current work focuses on elucidating how factors produced by adipose tissue contribute to the development and promotion of chemo-resistance in estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. In addition to her research, Samantha is a University Distinguished Fellow who is a member of the leadership team for both the PHMTOX Graduate Student Organization and the Graduate Recruitment and Initiative Team, as well as a peer mentor and a member of MSU BEST. She is passionate about providing undergraduates with non-traditional research opportunities and has spent the past two summers as a fellow for the Biomedical Research for University Students in Health Sciences (BRUSH) Summer Research Program, serving as both a graduate student mentor and programmatic developer. For her FAST project, Samantha hopes to explore science communication. Particularly, she seeks to develop ways to train students to communicate their science effectively and efficiently to non-science audiences, through the use of oral presentations, written communication, and digital infographics.

Miguel Angel Rodriguez Mejia is an international second-year graduate student in the PhD program in Mathematics Education (PRIME). He comes from Colombia, where he worked as a mathematics teacher in middle and high school, as well as at the undergraduate level. His research interest spins about using statistical modeling to develop Critical Statistical Literacy in undergrad students. Miguel seeks to find in statistical modeling possible ways to address social and environmental issues, seemingly, contributing to form students that could be critical consumers/producers of data. Miguel is committed to using research to face and break down barriers hindering access to STEM majors for misrepresented communities. As a FAST Fellow, Miguel is interested in exploring how to pose mathematics/statistics problems from a culturally responsive approach that recognizes the diversity presented in a classroom. Also, he is moved to explore strategies for implementing teaching based on social justice for mathematics/statistics classes in early college math classes.

Luke J Seaton is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Mathematics. His research interests lie in low-dimensional topology. His teaching experience includes working as a grader, recitation leader, and instructor of record for various undergraduate math courses. He served three years as an organizer of OURFA2M2, an organization dedicated to connecting marginalized undergraduate mathematics students across the United States with resources to support their journeys to become mathematicians. He is currently working on a project to support first-generation or low-income students in the mathematics department at MSU. As a FAST Fellow, Luke wants to explore a teaching-as-research project to support undergraduate mathematics students’ learning in MTH 299: Transitions, the pivotal course in the MSU mathematics curriculum that transitions students from calculus to proofs.

2023 - 2024 FAST Fellows

Luke Gregory is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Plant Biology department and the Molecular Plant Sciences program. His research seeks to reveal adapted/acclimated strategies within the photorespiratory pathway that enable C3 plants to thrive at elevated temperatures, which the intention of applying these strategies in engineering efforts. In today’s data-rich world, the educational landscape requires richer teaching experiences that prioritize data literacy, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary problem solving. As a FAST Fellow, he wants to pursue a teaching-as-research project aimed to improve undergraduate students' proficiency and confidence in quantitative reasoning, equipping them with the essential skill not only to excel academically, but also to navigate real-world challenges.

Alyssa LaBerge is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the School of Criminal Justice. Her research interests lie at the intersection of child maltreatment and juvenile delinquency, researching the mechanisms of and consequences of "crossover" from child welfare to juvenile justice. She is a community-engaged researcher, working closely with family courts to improve the outcomes of juvenile justice-involved youth and validate standardized juvenile risk and need assessments. Alyssa's teaching experience includes numerous invited guest lectures, workshop trainings, and serving as an undergraduate teaching assistant and an instructor of record in the School of Criminal Justice. As a FAST Fellow, Alyssa seeks to explore the benefits of using interactive online courseware during synchronous in-person classes to increase various components of student success, including classroom engagement, active participation, and material comprehension and application. 

Joana Lampe is a third-year doctoral international student at Michigan State University’s School of Social Work. Her main research interest revolves around the intersection of the child welfare system and health care systems. Her questions include - for example - whether parental healthcare access can serve as a form of child maltreatment prevention. Additionally, her doctoral studies have awakened an interest in social work education, specifically around anti-racist, diversity, equity, and inclusion (ADEI) practices and curriculum content. As a FAST Fellow, Joana is interested in exploring different modalities of teaching ADEI content: How can instructors best navigate the balancing act of satisfying newly prioritized accreditation standards, giving students – and themselves – the time to grapple with those topics, and promote meaningful change?   

Rafael Cavalcanti Lembi is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. For his PhD research, Rafael is working on the topic of energy justice in the Brazilian Amazon, seeking to explore just and sustainable pathways towards universal access to electricity for off-grid, isolated communities. Participatory methodologies and community engagement are foundational for the collaborative work he conducts with traditional communities and other stakeholders. As a FAST Fellow, he is interested in developing a toolkit with diverse lesson plans on the Sustainable Development Goals using case studies of social and environmental issues within Latin America. Further, he is also interested in assessing learning outcomes of the empirical application of the toolkit.

Iris Marianna Margetis is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Economics at Michigan State University. Her field is Environmental Economics, and her research interests lie in Migration Patterns post Natural Disasters, along with the Economic Effects of Flood Risk Disclosure Laws, among other things. As a FAST Fellow, Iris is interested in exploring the extent to which Generative AI models, like ChatGPT, are used by students to overcome course challenges. Lastly, through a teaching intervention, she wishes to explore how the use of such models can either enhance, or hinder, student understanding of the material, information retention, as well as grades.

Haritha Mullagura is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Mechanical Engineering Department. She has been a strong advocate of education and has actively engaged in teaching since her early undergraduate years in India. Her research interests lie in the field of cardiovascular mechanics and pulmonary arterial hypertension. During her time at MSU over the past four years, she has served as a Teaching Assistant for five different courses and laboratory sessions. Being an international student, she appreciates exploring the variations and commonalities in learning experiences among students from various educational backgrounds. One notable difference she observed was in the use of English versus SI units. With the support of the FAST fellowship, she aspires to undertake a project aimed at minimizing disparities in learning for students from diverse backgrounds. 

Billy Poulos is a doctoral student in the Department of Animal Science. His research is focused on improving the efficiency of somatic cell nuclear transfer and identifying pathways and mechanisms involved in early embryogenesis using Zebrafish as a model. Billy has previously taught courses in cell and molecular biology, anatomy and physiology, reproduction, and genetics in his role as a GTA in the College of Natural Science and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. As a FAST Fellow, Billy is interested in how student perceptions of teaching and learning in introductory cell and molecular biology courses have shifted as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Billy is specifically interested in exploring the student perceived advantages between fully in person and hybrid learning environments, and how to modify courses to better engage students and enable them to employ learning methods that are most effective for them. 

Kaylee Wilburn is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics program. Her research works to understand and exploit bacteriophage-pathogen interactions. She currently works in a Vibrio cholerae system, the causative agent leading to the disease Cholera, a pervasive cause of death in areas that lack access to clean drinking water. Kaylee’s previous research experiences included a masters in environmental microbiology where she began her bacteriophage work, as well as an undergraduate teaching-as-research (TAR) project focused on empowering informed decision making and finding credible resources. In addition to her research, she focuses her time on improving DEI in STEM, serving as the current director of the Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT), and formerly serving as both treasurer and the peer mentor founder and coordinator. She has also volunteered for the Letters to a Pre-Scientist program and the Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) annual Girls Math and Science Day during her time at MSU. In the FAST program, Kaylee hopes to study effective early career intervention and exploration for STEM majors to improve retention of students from diverse backgrounds.

Dangkamol Wongthanaroj is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Healthcare, Universal design, & Biomechanics (HUB) Lab, School of Packaging. She was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, and her background for both Bachelor’s and Master’s are in Packaging. Her research focused on a sterile barrier system (SBS) of medical device packaging and a user-centric healthcare system. She investigates a packaging design that could help prevent medical devices from being contaminated at the point of use. Her approaches focus on human-centered design, and industrial feasibility studies aim to create a ramification to human health. Dangkamol is passionate about scientific teaching and has experience being a lab instructor for six semesters in the School of Packaging. For her FAST project, Dangkamol wants to improve a teaching strategy for a laboratory class to elevate students’ learning experiences. She wants to explore how to utilize cooperative learning, test corrections, and backward design to help students connect with the course content and how to improve student learning outcomes in a laboratory classroom.

2022 - 2023 FAST Fellows

Gloria J. Ashaolu is a doctoral student in the Department of History at Michigan State University. As a fellow in the FAST program, she looks forward to furthering and enriching her exposure to evidence-based research and experience-based practices that will promote the efficacy of learning and teaching strategies she employs as an educator. Through her IRB-approved project titled “The Efficacy of Podcasts for Improving Student Engagement,” she seeks to examine how the cognitive flexibility and complementary auditory learning that story-telling podcasts offer, and the narrative forms present promote an increased application-based enriching comprehension of historical themes discussed in a class and their broader relevance in contemporary society.

Sophie Buysse is a third year PhD candidate in the Plant Biology department and the Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior program. Her research investigates the genetic bases of plant responses to the environment and how environmental responses within a generation change over time. She uses the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and controlled growth chamber experiments in her research. In the FAST program, Sophie is interested in exploring ways that instructors can promote curiosity in the classroom to encourage students to have confidence in the material they have learned to ask questions they do not know the answer to and to encourage students to make connections between course material and person career goals and interests.

Samara Chamoun is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the department of Mathematics at MSU. She works in Control Theory, a branch of Mathematics dealing with the use of feedback to influence the behavior of a system to achieve a certain desired goal. Being an international student in the US, Samara has a strong commitment to DEI and a strong passion for leadership development. Samara has been piloting an embedded “Student Success Support” program in large gateway Math courses as her GTA assignment. As a FAST Fellow, she is hoping to explore the difficulties and struggles students experience that prevents them from achieving success in their academic life. She is also hoping to understand how an embedded support program can help shift students’ perceptions toward their abilities and confidence in Math and prevent any outside obstacle to be in the way of their success. In her free time, Samara enjoys reading, writing, and visiting new places.

Natasha George is a 3^rd year PhD candidate in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Her research uses cryo-electron microscopy to understand mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Gram-positive bacteria. She is passionate about science education, with experience through the Letters to a Pre-Scientist program, outreach activities with Graduate Women in Science, undergraduate mentorship, and years of volunteer work at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center in Santa Cruz, CA. In addition, Natasha has been involved in improving the graduate student learning environment through participation and leadership (developing a peer mentoring program and a mental health event series) in the Graduate Recruitment Initiative Team (GRIT). For her FAST project, she hopes to explore how building basic writing skills influences students’ competence and confidence in “real world” scientific writing in their laboratory classes. As an avid writer and editor, she is particularly interested in how STEM students engage with reading and writing skills and identifying strategies to help students understand how the structure and style of their writing can make them more effective communicators of complex scientific ideas. 

Arya Gupta is a doctoral student in Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. His current research interests include Distributed Systems, Graph Theory, Theoretical Computer Science. He loves teaching Mathematics and Computer Science. With prior service for teaching assignments (as a TA) for three years, he is serving as a TA with CSE at MSU for more than two years (5 semesters). As a FAST Fellow, Arya wishes to study the intent of students of Discrete Mathematics (CSE 260) towards Metacognition, and its impact on student success, such as grades.

James Macnamara is a third-year PhD student in the Packaging program. His research focus is to design a high oxygen and moisture barrier compostable multi-layer structure film, without the use of metallization that can be used for direct food contact. It will likely encompass a combination of extrusion, lamination, and/or coating processes to get to a target level of 1-10 cc/100 squin/day and 1-10 g/100 squin/day for oxygen and moisture barrier levels respectively. It is targeted towards industrial composting and complies with EN 13432 and ASTM D6400. For his FAST project, Jim intends to investigate the learning of students in a live lab setting versus a virtual lab setting. Both sections will be given the same instructions for completing the lab and the same requirements for submitting a completed lab report. The difference is the live group will complete the lab exercise themselves and collect their own data in person, while the virtual group will have access to videos on how the equipment works, and the data will be supplied for analysis. Both groups will have equal access to office hours and be able to ask questions when needed. 

Sarah Manski is a 5^th year PhD candidate in the Department of Statistics and Probability.  She was born and raised in Southwest Michigan, received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from Kalamazoo College and a master’s degree in mathematics from Dartmouth College.  Her research interests include applied statistics in agriculture, probability theory, and statistics education.  Sarah is passionate about teaching statistics to a range of audiences and tailoring her teaching to the needs, knowledge, and abilities of each learner.  Outside of graduate school, Sarah enjoys studying karate and spending time with her dogs.

Ivon Moya-Uribe is a 5th year international PhD student at the veterinary school. Her research is focused on studying the effect of gut microbiota composition in the gut-lung axis by exploring both immune and neurological pathways. She obtained her veterinary medicine degree from Chile and was awarded with a scholarship from the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) there to continue her graduate studies at Michigan State University. Her teaching experience involves working as a GTA in the college of natural science and vet school, and for different course levels, in addition to serving as a mentor for the summer research program for undergraduate students. This in addition to her own learning experience has allowed her to explore different educational settings and systems, and a diverse learning community. As a FAST Fellow she hopes to gain a deeper level of understanding of who she is as a learner and educator, and explore strategies to enhance students’ scientific thinking in large classroom settings to become an effective educator as a professor at a university.

Riley Pizza is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Plant Biology, pursuing a dual degree in Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. They received their MS from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in the Department of Integrative Biosciences where they studied the unintentional domestication of plants grown on native seed farms for restoration. Riley’s primary career goal is to teach at a primarily undergraduate institution where they will create teaching practices that are more equitable and increase student understanding. In their dissertation, Riley is interested in where landowners and stewards should purchase seed to produce the most successful prairie restoration efforts. As a FAST Fellow, Riley wants to understand what sorts of active learning techniques, if any, best foster student understanding in a large introductory biology lecture course. They are also interested in how these activities affect students from underrepresented groups.

Krishnaa Venkatesan is a third year PhD student in the School of Packaging’s Healthcare, Universal design, & Biomechanics (HUB) lab. He is currently working on his dissertation which focuses on improving OTC medication labels to reduce adverse drug reactions in older patients. He is also interested in research areas focusing on patient compliance and user-centric healthcare systems. He is planning to pursue a career in academia with a focus on teaching at a college level. As a FAST Fellow, Krishnaa is studying how interventions to improve student engagement in an asynchronous senior level course can influence students’ learning outcomes. In his free time, Krishnaa likes to build things like robots, contraptions, customized control circuits, when he is not gardening, biking, or backpacking.

2021 - 2022 FAST Fellows

Laura Castro-Diaz is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Community Sustainability, pursuing a dual degree in Environmental Science and Policy (ESPP) and is a Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project Scholar (SMEP). Laura’s primary career goal is to contribute to the welfare and sustainability of local communities. In her dissertation, Laura is exploring the impacts and energy injustices that hydroelectric dams generate in the lives and livelihoods of local communities in the Global South and emerging economies. She is also investigating how stakeholders participate in processes of decision-making, how benefits (e.g., compensation and electricity access) and negative impacts (e.g., resettlement, disturbance of livelihoods) of hydroelectric dam projects are distributed among the population, and how individuals and communities cope and adapt due to the changes generated by energy decisions made by actors in power.

Sevan Chanakian is a fifth year PhD student in the Materials Science program. Sevan's research interests involve the fundamental understanding of electron transport in ceramic semiconductors used for alternative energy technologies. Through the FAST program, Sevan intends to investigate the efficacy of 3D digital visualization interventions in improving the learning outcomes and increasing the enthusiasm of undergraduate students enrolled in materials science courses.

Emily Greeson is a 5^th year PhD candidate in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in the Institute for Quantitative Health Science and Engineering at MSU. Her research focuses on using thermal energy to control bacteria via temperature-sensitive repressors at the transcriptional level.  Emily is a part of the IV cohort of MSU’s Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) program, the Graduate Women in Science (GWIS) Mid-Michigan executive board, and the 2019-2020 Transdisciplinary Graduate Fellows Program (TGFP) through the MSU Center for Interdisciplinarity (C4I). Her work with TGFP encompassed team science and community-engaged research approaches to examine colorectal cancer screening rates in a rural, central Michigan population. As a FAST fellow, Emily plans to use a team science lens to examine group-based projects in an undergraduate microbiology course, MMG 425, specifically focusing on collaboration and quantitative literacy.

Daniel Griffin is a dual PhD candidate in Organizational Psychology and Computational Mathematics Science and Engineering. Daniel’s primary research interests are in using computational modeling to understand, model, and predict human behavior. Substantively he is focused on studying the social processes of teams and leadership. Additionally, he studies factors impacting team resilience for teams in extreme conditions (i.e., astronaut teams). Daniel is a recipient of the prestigious National Defenses Science and Engineering Graduate Research Fellowship (NDSEG). As a FAST Fellow, his goal is to demonstrate how computational models can be used to augment undergraduate learning outcomes by providing a way to build deeper cognitive models of complex topics and interact with these theories in a hands-on way. Daniel is a strong proponent of modeling as a tool to enhance both research and learning outcomes.

Tanya Iretskaia is a 3^rd year PhD student studying Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas Management. Prior to MSU, she has done over 15 years of experience in field biology, tour guiding and cross-cultural communication and facilitation. Originally from Russia, Tanya has lived, worked, studied and conducted research on five continents, has received three Master’s Degrees, and has traveled to over 70 countries. Tanya’s current research interests are fueled by her personal history of ‘wow’ moments and encounters outdoors, the desire to give back and a keen apprehension for nature and all its ‘cogs and wheels’. This year in the fall Tanya is teaching a section of the “Introduction to Travel and Tourism” class, and in the spring she will be a GTA for a large intro biology course, “Organismal and Population Biology”. This latter class will constitute the basis of her FAST project.

Nathan Jansen is a 3^rd year PhD candidate in the Department of Chemistry working under the guidance of Professor Katharine Hunt. His research focuses on molecular collisions, quantum statistical mechanics, and using information theory to quantify decoherence in maximally entangled qubit states. As a FAST fellow he hopes to explore argument-based methods, with an emphasis on physical justification, when applying mathematical models to calculate molecular properties.

Thilani Jayakody is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences and is advised by Dr. David Douches in the Potato Breeding and Genetics Program. Her research if focused on the application, development and understanding of genome editing tools when applied to genetically complex plant species.  Her future career goal is to teach at a primarily undergraduate institution, where she can mentor the next generation of plant scientists in the foundations of genomics and molecular biology. 

Jon Kaletka is a fifth year PhD candidate in the department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and is advised by Dr. Jonathan Hardy. His research focuses on understanding the host reaction to Listeria monocytogenes infection of the placenta. His teaching experiences include being a teaching assistant for an advance microbiology lab and a virology course. Through these experiences he came to love interacting with students and seeing their growth. In addition to teaching, Jon is interested in science communication, as he has been featured on the podcast/radio show “Sci-Files” as well as published a post on the MSU Science Communication blog. Jon is hoping to use these experiences and the FAST Fellowship to become a teaching professor at a university.

Hunter McFall-Boegeman (He/Him/His) is a 6^th year PhD candidate, having taught for five of those years. After earning his BA in Biochemistry from the University of Minnesota-Morris, where he was an undergraduate teaching assistant, he joined MSU’s Department of Chemistry for his graduate studies. His research involves the synthesis of complex carbohydrates and their analogues. He then explores using those carbohydrates as antigenic targets in virus-like particle-based conjugate vaccines. In addition to his research, he served as the recording secretary (‘19-’20) and parliamentarian (‘20-’21) for COGS, after three years as the Chemistry Department’s representative. As a FAST fellow, he hopes to explore how students apply their chemical knowledge to real world problems, particularly the ethical implication of proposed solutions.

Ellen Searle is a third-year graduate student in the department of Human Development and Family Studies. Her current project focuses on implementation of shared book reading interventions in the classroom with children on the autism spectrum. With over five years of experience as a teaching assistant (including three years as instructor of record), Ellen is an active member of the Graduate Teaching Assistant Teaching and Learning Community (GTA TLC). In her teaching, Ellen is passionate about accessibility and understanding of content. Her FAST project will focus on the use of statistical software for improving understanding of statistical concepts and real-world decision-making processes.

Jenna Van Fossen is a fourth-year student pursuing a PhD in organizational psychology. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University, Fresno. Her research focuses broadly on supporting workers and is frequently interdisciplinary. She studies processes underlying occupational health, self-regulation, the effects of technology on workers, and trust. As a FAST fellow, Jenna will be studying how learners’ cultural values relate to attitudes, stress, and learning in the context of e-learning.

Antonio White is a 3^rd year student in the Neuroscience Program at MSU. Antonio graduated from North Carolina Central University in 2018 with a bachelors in pharmaceutical sciences with a minor in chemistry. Antonio currently works in Dr. Rebecca Knickmeyer’s lab and studies how gut microbiota impact maternal behavior to learn whether maternal behavior is a mediator or moderator variable in gut microbiota impacting neurodevelopment. Antonio aspires to become a professor and is interested in educational podcast impacts on student learning. Outside of school, Antonio enjoys watching movies and listening to music.

2020 - 2021 FAST Fellows

Adam Anthony is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He is advised by Dr. William Lynch. His research focuses on experimentally measuring the fission properties of heavy nuclei far from stability at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) here at MSU. Outside of his research, he has also been a member of the Graduate Program and Grad Recruitment Committees in the PA department. He is also currently the president of the Women and Minorities in the Physical Sciences (WaMPS) graduate organization.

Jacalyn Beck is a PhD candidate in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to her work, integrating philosophies and methods from ecology, team science, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. Jackie is passionate about discovering how conservation researchers can improve their practice, how researchers from all disciplines can leverage the benefits of diversity, and how the next generation can be better prepared to solve today’s complex environmental problems, such as human-wildlife conflict. As a FAST Fellow, Jackie is exploring the ways in which undergraduate biology students develop and apply reflexivity through the use of personal reflective journals.

Ilissa Chasnick is a DVM candidate in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University. She received her Bachelor’s in Biology with a minor in Religious Studies from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan. In veterinary school Ilissa’s primary interest is Emergency and Critical Care medicine, and she recently completed a fellowship in the teaching hospital for this. Post-graduation she would like to complete a rotating internship and complete a residency in Emergency and Critical Care medicine so that she becomes board certified. With this, she would like to come back to Michigan State as a clinician in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and teach future veterinarians. She is also a member of the pioneering new curriculum at the college, and has research interest in the effects of a flipped classroom, hands-on education, and clinical reasoning in the veterinary field.

Max Helmberger is a PhD student in the Department of Entomology. He received his Bachelor's in Biology from University of Minnesota Duluth and his Master's in Entomology from Cornell University. Currently, he works with Dr. Matthew Grieshop, investigating interactions between soil invertebrates and microplastic debris. As a FAST fellow, he plans to investigate the role and proper application of educational games in science classrooms.

Chloe Lewis is a third year PhD student in the Department of Mathematics at Michigan State University. She graduated with a BS in chemistry and mathematics from Northern Michigan University. Currently, Chloe studies algebraic topology under advisor Dr. Teena Gerhardt. During the FAST program, she hopes to explore student learning in MSU’s quantitative literacy class, MTH 101.

Yao Ma is a PhD student of Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Michigan State University. He was the recipient of his department’s 2020 Outstanding Graduate Student Award. His research focuses on developing advanced deep learning techniques for graph structured data. He has published many papers in top conferences such as WSDM, ICDM, SDM, WWW, IJCAI, SIGIR and KDD, which have been cited hundreds of times. He is the leading organizer and presenter of tutorials on graph neural networks (GNNs) at AAAI’20 and KDD’20, which received huge attention and wide acclaim. As a FAST fellow, Yao plans to investigate whether properly designed animations can help students understand concepts and algorithms in computer science.

Sarah McFall-Boegeman is in her 4th year of her PhD candidacy in Chemistry. Her research investigates the surface preparation methods of aluminum alloys in the aerospace sector to mitigate corrosion. Currently her work is looking at the advantages of laser surface treatments and an environmentally friendly coating system to inhibit corrosion. In addition to serving as the COGS recording secretary she also serves on the steering committee of ACS Women in Chemistry where she helps encourage women and girls to stay in chemistry and to show that there is a strong network of Women Chemists. Sarah also serves as the graduate student representative to the Chemistry department DEI committee. As a FAST Fellow she hopes to understand the breakdown in math in chemistry and why students don’t understand mathematical concepts in early or late courses with a focus on electrochemical mathematics.

Michail Paparizos is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Mathematics. He is studying weighted inequalities and has been teaching mathematics for six semesters. He joined the FAST program as he believes that it will give him a great opportunity to broaden my teaching and learning expertise. Communication and interaction with the other fellowship recipients and faculty members would be interesting as it will provide him with experiences, methods and ideas that people, whose field of studies is not Mathematics, have.

Vicky Phun is a PhD student in the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology program. Her interest is in shaping students' engagement in STEM through making the content relevant in connecting it to their daily experiences. Through the FAST program, she intends to explore how to represent students’ identities in the classroom and the current strategies teachers use to promote meaningful connections to students’ interests. As a previous Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) scholar from California State University Long Beach, she is committed to research communities that promotes diverse perspectives and aims to integrate that in her own teaching practices.

Eleanore Ritter is a PhD student in the Department of Plant Biology at Michigan State University and is advised by Dr. Chad Niederhuth. Her research focuses on genome and epigenome dynamics in clonal plants. As an undergraduate at Skidmore College, Eleanore served as a teaching assistant for introductory biology labs. While at MSU, she has sought out experiences to improve her teaching and served as the instructor for an R module for graduate students. As a first-generation college student, she is very passionate about creating inclusive courses and classrooms. As a FAST fellow, Eleanore hopes to explore how learning communities can improve student motivation during remote learning. Outside of work, she enjoys hiking with her dog Mulberry and sewing.

2019 - 2020 - FAST Fellows

Kimberly Alberts is a Ph.D. student in the Educational Psychology and Educational Technology Program (EPET). She received her Bachelor’s in Psychology and History from Central Michigan University and her Master’s in Education from the University of Michigan. Before coming to MSU, she taught IB Psychology and IB Theory of Knowledge in Quito, Ecuador. Currently, she is working with Dr. Jennifer Schmidt to study student engagement and motivation with a special focus on STEM contexts. She is currently involved with several research projects related to 1) Better understanding how students use cognitive processes to make sense of their affective experiences in school, 2) Examining the effectiveness of a teacher education program in facilitating preservice teachers’ development of cultural competence, and 3) Constructing profiles of students’ STEM engagement.

Gaurav Chauda is a doctoral student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University, working with Dr. Daniel J. Segalman in the field of contact mechanics and vibration. His work involves testing various friction models to understand dissipation behavior in jointed structures. To expand his exposure to this research community, he attended summer schools in the field of Joint Mechanics (NDCSI) at Rice University, Houston and Imperial College London, London. Prior to his coming to MSU, he worked two years in TATA Motors as a vibration testing engineer. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. Through the FAST Fellowship, Gaurav will explore ways of deploying concept inventories to assess the understanding of those concepts in engineering students. He will also design a short term intervention to measure retention of concepts from pre-requisites.

Megan Cross is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. She conducts research on state wildlife agency partnerships and collaborations. Her previous research as a MS student at the University of Minnesota related to hunter risk perceptions of bovine tuberculosis and farmers’ voluntary enrollment in conservation programs beneficial to wildlife. As a FAST Fellow, Megan hopes to explore student motivation to learn, particularly in courses required by curriculums that are outside of typical students’ interests.

Angel “Gelica” Forde is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Community Sustainability. She is also a teaching convener in the Baileys Scholars Program in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. She graduated with a BS in Natural Resources and a minor in GIS from Lincoln University Missouri and a MS from Florida A&M University (FAMU). With over eight years of teaching high school, she believes creating a classroom that fosters sense of community and belonging could enhance a student’s learning journey. She is currently working on her dissertation which focuses on international graduate sense of belonging on Michigan State University Campus. Also, she is working on receiving certificates in College Teaching, Spatial Ecology, and Community Engagement. When she is not working on her dissertation or trying to develop her teaching skills, she can be found on a tennis court playing or officiating. She is an athlete by nature and uses whatever little spare time she has enjoying some sporting event (mainly tennis).

Rachael Goodman-Williams is a Ph.D. student in the Ecological-Community Psychology program at Michigan State University. Broadly speaking, her research focuses on systems and community responses to sexual violence, the trajectory of victim and offender behaviors and experiences over time, the impact of methodological decisions on research findings, and ethical considerations in gender-based violence research. Her dissertation uses a latent class transition analysis to explore sexual assault survivors’ experiences of posttraumatic stress over time and to identify how different types of social support impact those trajectories of posttraumatic stress. She has experience in undergraduate teaching and course design in areas that include research methods, human services internships, and gender- based violence.

Ryley Mancine is a medical student at MSU College of Osteopathic Medicine. He received his BS in Human Biology and BS in Psychology at Michigan State University, where he focused on developing a screening tool for the early detection of disordered eating behaviors. In medical school, Ryley is driven to become a psychiatrist and hopes to incorporate research, in-classroom instruction, and patient encounters into his career. His research interests include exploring optional in-class and out-of-class active learning behaviors that lead to increased assessment scores, as well as utilizing mood states and how they may contribute to the learning process.

Connie Rojas is a Ph.D. Candidate in Integrative Biology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior (EEBB) program at Michigan State University. For her dissertation research, she is investigating the interactions between animal hosts and their symbiotic microbial communities, hereafter termed the ‘microbiome.’ Specifically, she is investigating how the microbiome affects their hosts physiology and behavior, and how the host and its environment affect their symbiotic microbial communities. These questions are being asked in the social carnivore, the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Connie uses a combination of field work data, laboratory work, and computational tools to accomplish these goals. Outside of work, she is very involved with her community and believes that service, community-engagement and activism are central to her role as an academician and researcher.

Andrew “Ted” Van Alst is a Ph.D. candidate in the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Program at Michigan State University and is advised by Dr. Victor DiRita. His research focuses on how the human gastrointestinal pathogen Vibrio cholerae colonizes and proliferates during the course of infection. Throughout his graduate education, Ted has participated in undergraduate education of the biological sciences through multiple teaching assistantships. In his role as graduate student curriculum liaison, he provided feedback for both graduate and undergraduate curriculum in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and is part of an effort to redesign undergraduate education as a “career curriculum” to more closely connect student majors to a career in microbial or genomic science. Previously, he developed a collection of research tools designed to evaluate two new courses as part the Bioethics minor degree program in Lyman Briggs College. As a FAST fellow, he plans to research educational design strategies and course tools that can be implemented to increase the utility value of introductory STEM courses. Particularly through course material that exposes students to future career paths within their field of study.

Scott Warner is a Ph.D. candidate in the Plant Biology Department studying under Dr. Frank W. Telewski. He is investigating the effects of climate on tree growth in the Great Lakes Region and what that means for future growth under ongoing climate change. He joined the FAST program to prepare for a potential teaching career and to conduct research on the relationship between career planning and classroom success. He has experience as a teaching assistant and guest lecturer.

2018 - 2019 FAST Fellows

Mark Berardi is a PhD candidate in the department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders studying with Dr. Eric Hunter. He received his BS in Applied Physics with a minor in Music at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah where he focused on speech and architectural acoustics. At MSU, Mark focuses on applying computational modeling and machine learning to quantify changes in speech acoustics associated with behavioral accommodations to vocal fatigue. Throughout his academic career, Mark has had a primary emphasis on STEM outreach, particularly in the area of acoustics. He continues this work as a FAST fellow providing STEM laboratory experiences to students of non-STEM courses that he teaches.

Alexander Burgoyne is a PhD student in the Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Michigan State University. He conducts research on skill acquisition and expertise, with a focus on individual differences in ability and personality. Recently, Alex co-authored a meta-analysis published in Psychological Science which called into question the influence of mindset interventions on academic achievement. His latest research projects include (1) investigating the role of placekeeping ability in problem solving, (2) using eye-tracking to better understand the cognitive processes underlying reading comprehension and proofreading performance, and (3) quantifying the joint contribution (and potential interaction) of abilities and purposeful training on the acquisition of complex skills.

Joelyn Delima is a graduate Student in Dr. Tammy Long’s Lab in the Dept. of Plant Biology. She has a background in both Science (Bachelor’s in Zoology with Biotechnology, Master’s in Marine Science) and Education (Bachelor’s in Education). She has experience teaching grade 5 through undergrad. Her interests are in Undergraduate Biology Education and Informal Science Education. At the moment, she is working on exploring the effect context has on the way students reason – especially with respect to Natural Selection.

Alyssa Harben is a 2nd year Packaging PhD student with research focused on optimizing Over-the-Counter Drug packaging and labeling to help consumers notice warnings and comply with instructions. She graduated with a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Consumer Packaging Solutions from California Polytechnic State University of San Luis Obispo in 2015, and earned her M.S in Packaging from MSU in 2017. Working as a member of Dr. Laura Bix’s Healthcare Universal Design and Biomechanics (HUB) Team for both her Masters and PhD has enabled her to study the influence of packaging on human behavior. After being a lab instructor for 2 years, she became the instructor for PKG 101 Principles of Packaging in the spring of 2018. She recently redesigned PKG 101 to emphasize the role of well-designed packaging systems as a problem solving strategy for both retailers and consumers.

Darren Incorvaia is a third-year PhD candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology studying foraging behavior and motivation in bumblebees. Specifically, he is working on determining how social cues in the nest influence forager decision-making in the environment. Outside of his bee work, Darren is passionate about teaching and science communication. As a FAST fellow he hopes to examine how curiosity, as a source of intrinsic motivation, develops in college students.

Jennifer Kirk is a PhD candidate in the department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics at Michigan State University and is co-advised by Edward Walker and Kazem Kashefi. Her research focuses on the water-filled tree hole habitat as a model ecosystem for the analysis of factors constraining mosquito production. The tree hole ecosystem is heterotrophic and dependent upon microbially-mediated decomposition of organic detritus and inputs of inorganic nutrients from stemflow water. For growth in this ecosystem, mosquito larvae consume microorganisms. Her dissertation research challenges the assumption that tree hole production is nutrient-limited; instead, it is a nutrient-rich environment, but hypoxic, with a deficit of electron acceptors to further microbial respirations and decomposition, and a surplus of electron donors establishing a reducing environment. Jennifer has a passion for teaching that continues to develop through several years of experience as a teaching assistant at Eastern Michigan University and MSU, as well as multiple courses and workshops on current teaching pedagogy. As a FAST fellow, she is interested in studying diversity in the classroom (cultural and ethnic background, gender, socio-economic background, among others) and how these factors impact course performance and retention in STEM programs.

Christine Kwiatkowski is a PhD student in the School of Criminal Justice and Neuroscience Program. She is a member of the Robison lab with a research focus on risk for aggression. She received a BS with dual concentrations in Brain, Behavior, and Cognitive Science as well as French and Francophone Studies from the University of Michigan followed by an M.H.S. in the Mental Health Department at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Through the FAST Fellowship, she is interested in exploring how supplemental course materials affect student performance.

Tracy Melvin is a doctoral student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University with Dr. Gary Roloff in the Applied Forest and Wildlife Ecology Laboratory. Her research focuses on biodiversity conservation in the Anthropocene specific to climate adaptation. Her work is global in scope, but focuses on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska as a case study for stewarding prospective climate adaptation in the face of climate-induced ecological transformation. After obtaining her degree Tracy would like to teach at the collegiate level, focusing research on global conservation challenges and promoting a laboratory that emphasizes educational opportunities for students in developing countries, and refugees of foreign war. Tracy has co-created and co-taught the award winning and highly popular study abroad program “A Fragile Fiji: Integrating Ecology and Human Dimensions in the Face of Climate Change”, along with serving as a TA for the Lyman Briggs College, Honors Biology Program, and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Tracy is a student trustee for the Michigan Nature Conservancy, and a Science to Action Fellow for the U.S. Geological Survey. As a FAST Fellow, Tracy will explore the role of technology in the classroom and ways to effectively motivate students by manipulating formative and summative assessments to increase student engagement and promote enduring knowledge.

Gabriela Quinlan is a PhD student in the Entomology Department and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program at MSU. Her research interests include landscape and spatial ecology, and she is currently studying nutrition-mediated honey bee health as an effect of landscape at multiple scales. Gabriela is interested in teaching research to understand how students learn to effectively enhance engagement and transfer in the classroom.

Aritra Sarkar is a 5th year PhD student in Dr. Babak Borhan’s lab at the Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University. His main research area involves mechanistic studies of asymmetric reactions using various spectroscopic studies. Prior to joining the program at MSU, he earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Calcutta in India. Following that he went on to earn a master’s degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Kanpur, India. Two of his most favorite things to do (other than research in chemistry) are meeting new people and talking about science, being a teaching assistant (TA) at MSU allowed him to do just that. He has had the opportunity to be a TA for various undergraduate and graduate courses over the last few years. Now, as a FAST fellow he wishes to better understand the how to more systematically approach and improve his teaching skills.

Melissa Starking is a third year PhD student dual enrolled in the Fisheries and Wildlife Department and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior program. She earned her BS and MS in wildlife biology at the University of Michigan-Flint. Currently, Melissa is in Dr. Gary Roloff’s Applied Forest and Wildlife Ecology Lab studying wildlife responses to innovative silvicultural approaches in northern hardwood forests of Michigan. While here at MSU, she has obtained the University Certificate in College Teaching from the Graduate School. As a FAST fellow, she hopes to increase her teaching skill set by learning science based teaching strategies to effectively engage, connect, and help students become independent critical thinkers. Melissa would like to learn ways to develop courses and assessments in a way to optimize a diverse student body’s ability to learn.

2017 - 2018 FAST Fellows

Loan Cao is a PhD candidate in Food Science and Environmental Toxicology at Michigan State University, where she do research and teach undergrad courses. She graduated from Michigan State University with Master’s degree in Food Science in 2012. Her experience includes training on food safety management systems including Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), good manufacturing practices, hygiene and sanitation, good agricultural practices.  Her current research focuses on the assessment and management of food safety hazards in fruit juices, particularly screening contamination of different heavy metals in apple juice.

Joelyn Delima is a graduate Student in Dr. Tammy Long’s Lab in the Dept. of Plant Biology. She has a background in both Science (Bachelor’s in Zoology with Biotechnology, Master’s in Marine Science) and Education (Bachelor’s in Education).  She has experience teaching grade 5 through undergrad. Her interests are in Undergraduate Biology Education and Informal Science Education. At the moment, she is working on exploring the effect context has on the way students reason – especially with respect to Natural Selection.

Andrew Funk is a sixth-year doctoral candidate in the Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology program. He earned his B.S. in Microbiology and Cell Science and his M.S in Plant Pathology from the University of Florida. He spent three years doing molecular and genetic research for a strawberry breeding program at the USDA-ARS in Beltsville, MD before returning to Michigan State for his PhD. His research interests in the McGrath lab focus on understanding the genetic basis for traits of interest, using genetic, genomic, and molecular data. He is currently exploring a new reference genome of sugar beet, identifying sequences related to disease resistance and comparing them across diverse material to provide tools for crop improvement. His teaching interests focus on methods to prepare students to use critical thinking, reasoning, and the scientific method to apply core concepts to new situations. He hopes to understand the relationship between detailed examples and conceptual frameworks in helping students construct their understanding of complex STEM topics.

Sarzina Hossain is a third year Ph.D. student from Mechanical Engineering Department at Michigan State University. She is working with Dr. Indrek S Wichman to simulate the microgravity combustion on earth using narrow channel apparatus. She received her Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 2014. She got Outstanding Thesis Award for her Master’s thesis from both the department and the graduate school. Originally from Bangladesh, she received her undergraduate degree in 2012 from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). From the FAST fellowship program, she hopes to develop ideas to make classroom lecture more interesting and engaging for students.  She is also very excited to meet and interact with other fellows.

Jihye Hwang is a second year Ph.D. student in mathematics at Michigan State University and she is seeking her interest and advisor. She completed her B.S. in Mathematics Education at the Korea University in Korea. During the 1st year of Ph.D. program, she worked only in the MLC, helping room for mathematics, and so she will explore an effect of MLC on students’ learning and their final grade. She is excited to teach recitations this semester and to improve her teaching ability by interacting with other who are also interested in education.

Danielle Kaminski is a PhD candidate in the Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics (AFRE) Department at MSU. Her research interests include sports and labor economics as they relate to public policy and local and regional development. She is also interested in teaching and learning, particularly in methods for increasing student engagement and higher-order thinking.

Ahrom Kim is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.  She received her B.S. from Michigan State University in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2012.  Currently, her dissertation research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of antibody diversification in B cells. Ahrom has been a teaching assistant for several semesters where she found her passion for teaching. As a FAST fellow, she is interested in how students can be motivated to engage in active learning and if this motivation can improve students’ performance.

Courtney Larson is a Ph.D. candidate in the Entomology Department and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program. Stream ecosystems have captivated Courtney and lead her to her research interests in aquatic entomology.  She is interested in the effect of outside sources of organic matter on headwater stream communities of macroinvertebrates and microbes. Due to her passion for aquatic entomology, Courtney enjoys teaching on scientific subjects and has become interested in effective learning in the college classroom. During her tenure as a FAST fellow, she hopes to gain valuable skills to prepare for a career in an academic environment and perform research on the utilization of insects to enhance student learning.

Chiwimbo Gwenambira Mwika is a graduate scholar from Zimbabwe, studying Crop and Soil Sciences at Michigan State University. Agriculture has always been at the core of her world, having had a passion for the field from a very tender age. During 2011, she participated in a service-learning project at Kalamazoo College, where she worked in a community garden. Even though this was not at a farm scale, the experience was so fulfilling and enlightening to her that she decided to learn more about agricultural systems from small holder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, Chiwimbo is conducting on-farm participatory research with small holder farmers in Malawi, under the Africa RISING project. Generally, she is interested in agro-ecological and sustainable intensification research in the small holder farming context. Specific research interests include learning more about below and aboveground productivity of legume-based cropping systems and their soil nutrient balances. The main crop of interest in her research is pigeonpea, which she calls the ‘wonder shrub’.  Chiwimbo is passionate about teaching and learning and one of her main career goals is to effectively and efficiently transfer the knowledge and skills she has acquired over the years.

Megan Shiroda is a fourth year Ph. D. candidate researching how a pathogen (Group B Streptococcus, GBS) interacts with commensal members of the human microbiome, including Lactobacillus and bacteriophage, with Dr. Shannon Manning in the department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. GBS is a leading cause of premature birth, stillbirth and disease in newborns, and this research will hopefully lead to new intervention strategies. Before coming to MSU, she was a TA for several courses at UW-Madison and an instructor at the College of Micronesia – Federated States of Micronesia. She is most interested in gaining a better understanding of current research on teaching and trying to integrate the Scientific Method into the format of science curriculums.

Kellie Walters is a Ph.D. student in horticulture working with Dr. Roberto Lopez. Currently, her research focuses on the physiological responses of hydroponically produced specialty vegetables to environmental factors. Kellie graduated from Iowa State University with a B.S. in horticulture in 2013 and an M.S. in 2015. Throughout her college career, she has been involved in many teaching experiences including serving as a teaching assistant for multiple courses, teaching a hydroponics laboratory, participating in master gardener training, and teaching horticulture classes in the Virgin Islands. As a FAST fellow, she hopes to assess how the learning objectives of a greenhouse production course match with assessment scores and the student’s perception of understanding.

So-Jung Youn is a doctoral student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on valuation of inland fisheries and the food and nutrition benefits people receive from consumption of freshwater fish. Her work is global in scope, focusing on the commercial lake whitefish fishery in Lake Michigan and small-scale fisheries in Myanmar. After obtaining her degree So-Jung would like to teach at the collegiate level, with a focus on interdisciplinary course content, and serve as a mentor for others who share her passions for global, interdisciplinary, sustainability research. As a FAST Fellow, So-Jung will explore the role of technology in the classroom and ways to effectively incorporate online resources in order to increase student engagement and learning.

2016 - 2017 FAST Fellows

Aseel Bala-Ahmed is a fourth year Ph.D. student in chemical engineering working with Dr. Carl Lira to better understand and model phase equilibria in systems with hydrogen bonding components. Originally from Sudan, she received her undergraduate degree in 2013 from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. She is very excited to develop teaching technique through the FAST fellowship program, meet and interact with other graduate students interested in education and learn about successfully delivering topics of thermodynamics to undergraduate students.

Jennifer Byford is currently a doctoral student under Dr. Premjeet Chahal in the Terahertz Systems Laboratory.  Prior to joining the group as a graduate student in spring of 2014 she earned her Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University where she was also part of the Honors College.  Her research interests include metamaterials, millimeter/terahertz active and passive devices, reconfigurable antennas, sensors, biomedical applications for terahertz radiation, and engineering education.

Kathryn Frens is a Ph.D. candidate in the Boone and Crockett Quantitative Wildlife Center in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. Her dissertation research focuses on the relationships among land-use policy, biodiversity, and human socioeconomic systems on mixed-use rural landscapes. As a FAST fellow, Kathryn will investigate reading completion and its connection to learning and grades in the undergraduate classroom. She hopes to find out why students do or don’t read, and how time invested in reading pays off in increased understanding of a topic.

Nicole L. Geske is an Anthropology Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University, specializing in mortuary archaeology and bioarchaeology. Her research interests include the modification and use of human remains and reconstructing taphonomic and mortuary events. She is also interested in human anatomy and medical school education, especially in regards to active learning and flipped classroom design.

Molly J. Good is a doctoral student and Taylor and Regier Great Lakes Fisheries Fellow in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. She completed her B.S. in the same department in 2011, and she completed her Master’s degree in Marine and Environmental Affairs at the University of Washington in 2013. As a doctoral student, Molly studies the role and efficacy of law enforcement in the multi-jurisdictional management of Great Lakes fisheries. She has strong aspirations to teach at the collegiate level, where she hopes to serve as a mentor for other students with similar passions for conservation and sustainability research. As a FAST Fellow, Molly will explore the effects of different teaching styles on student learning and satisfaction in an introductory fisheries and wildlife course – the very first course that she took as an undergraduate in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife years ago!

Matthew Kolp is a 5th year Ph.D. student dually enrolled in the department of Plant Biology and in the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior program.  He received his B.S. from MSU in Horticulture in 2012.  Currently, his research focuses on questions in microbial ecology, specifically the fungal community within diseased bark tissue of the American chestnut, and how certain fungi may influence disease.  Matt has been a graduate teaching assistant for several semesters, and as a FAST fellow, he will explore how a plant taxonomy course can be changed from a lab focused in memorization and lecturing, to an inquiry-based classroom where students are encouraged to ask and test questions about the big ideas in plant systematics.

Tayo Moss is a doctoral student in the Department of Kinesiology within the College of Education at Michigan State University. Tayo graduated from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan in 2013 with a B.S. in Psychology, and a minor in Communication. He continued his education at Michigan State University and attained a M.S. in Kinesiology. Currently, he is a third year PhD student under Distinguished Professor, Dr. Deborah Feltz. His research involves understanding how can motivational implications of diversity in group contexts affects performance. Throughout Tayo’s graduate school career, he has been involved in many different experiences that have broadened his teaching abilities. He has taught over thirty different courses in the Kinesiology Department, including being the primary instructor for three different lecture courses (KIN 424, 345, 121). As a FAST Fellow, he hopes to find plausible teaching methodologies to utilize the diversity in the classroom to enhance the learning environment

Yujin Park is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Horticulture. She earned her B.S. in Architectural Engineering from Yonsei University, Korea and her M.S. in Horticultural Science from Seoul National University, Korea. With great joy of working with ornamental plants, her Ph.D. research investigates how radiation spectrums influence plant architecture and photosynthesis of ornamental seedlings. In addition to her research, she is interested in developing interesting lectures and hand-on activities related to plants and horticulture. During her Ph.D. program, she developed and gave lectures, such as “Plant Circadian Clock” in Biology of Plants (PLB 203 class at MSU) and “Beautiful Color of Flowers” at MSU Middle School Girls Math and Science Day and several science fairs to improve students and general public’s interests and understanding of horticulture. She believes well-designed educational programs will generate enthusiasm about horticulture for students and increase their desire to learn and participate. She also believes well-designed educational programs should include effective teaching strategies which can provide student-centered experiences where all students can actively participate, contribute, and learn based on their interests and questions. For her FAST project, she will investigate teaching strategies which can encourage the active participation of every single student in classroom activities and promote classroom equity in active-learning course.

Klara Scharnagl is a fourth year Ph.D. student in Plant Biology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior program. While she is very passionate about her dissertation research on the latitudinal gradient of epiphytic lichens, she is equally passionate about science education and outreach. She is engaged in multiple initiatives across campus to improve science education and outreach to people of all ages, including participating in campus events like Darwin Discovery Day, Middle School Girls’ Math and Science Day, and Science Festival. As a FAST fellow, she is seeking ways to improve undergraduate ability in interpreting scientific figures. She is using a three pronged approach that includes having students in an undergraduate Plant Ecology course collect and analyze their own data, present and interpret scientific figures, and discuss scientific figures in the classroom.

Fangyi Shen is a fifth year organic chemistry Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University. As an MSU undergraduate, this “Spartan” was challenged most by our organic chemistry course, which the course filled with bunch of “letters” that didn't spell any word in the English language or reactions had been presented by "chicken wire". When she began serving as an organic teaching assist, she realized that many of her students were following the same path that she struggled on before when they faced those “foreign” structures. Being a TA also made her realize that she likes teaching and that she should pursue a teaching career.  In doing so, she wants to develop and test different approaches to delivering the content of organic chemistry with the aim of being more effective by better understanding how students learn. And she believes participation in the FAST fellowship program will help train her as an independent thinking teacher. 

John Tran Born and raised in San Jose, California, John completed his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis before coming to Michigan State University to pursue his Ph.D. in Plant Biology. His interest in teaching began during his time in community college when he worked as a peer leader for the Peer-Led-Team-Learning (PLTL) program at San Jose City College where he led weekly review sessions for small student learning groups in introductory chemistry courses. His experience in facilitating learning communities has led him to ask questions about the kinds of assessments that can be made for learning communities. He is exploring those themes for his teaching as research project.

Marisel Villafañe-Delgado is a fourth year Ph.D. student in Electrical Engineering.  She received her M.S. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland in 2013 and the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez in 2011, respectively, and the B.S. in Electronics Engineering Technology from the University of Puerto Rico at Bayamón in 2008.  Her current research focuses on the study of functional connectivity networks in the human brain.  As a FAST fellow, she is interested in implementing effective teaching techniques in courses that rely heavily on mathematical concepts learned in prior courses, which usually brings a limitation for students.

Dan Weller is a materials science and engineering Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University with a passion for teaching and engineering education. His disciplinary research involves using earth-abundant semiconducting compounds for thermoelectric energy conversion. Additionally, he has studied a variety of phenomena including nanoparticle synthesis, magnetic materials, and relationships between materials’ morphology/microstructure and non-equilibrium growth conditions. Before beginning his graduate studies in 2014, he studied at Saginaw Valley State University and earned a double major B.S. in chemical physics and A.C.S. chemistry. In 2013, he completed his honors thesis on “Contactless Resistivity via an LC Oscillator,” and he continued to do research with scientists from Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University before pursuing a graduate degree. Ultimately, Dan hopes to teach materials science and engineering at the college-level as a university professor.

2015 - 2016 FAST Fellows

Aaron Baker is a fifth year organic chemistry Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University. He earned a B.S. in chemistry from Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio. His dissertation research has focused on boron, tin, and germanium and their uses in organic/organometallic chemistry. As a FAST fellow (and his lab’s safety officer), Aaron would like to see if introducing some of the practical safety concepts traditionally taught in lab courses can help student’s understanding of the lecture material if introduced alongside traditional organic lecture content when talking about relevant reactions and their safety hazards.

Sarah Coburn is a doctoral student in Computer Science and Engineering. She came to Michigan State in 2010 after getting a B.S. degree in Computer Science with an emphasis in Psychology. She has studied virtual and augmented reality technologies, as well as assistive user interface design. For much of her time at Michigan State University, Sarah has been a teaching assistant for the introductory computer programming course. While working with students, she found a passion for teaching. Her research interests currently involve understanding what backgrounds students have when first learning to program, and how to make sure that students of diverse backgrounds can have the best opportunities to learn in their own style. Sarah looks forward to working with the FAST Fellowship Program to become a better instructor for students with these differing backgrounds.

Katy Meyers Emery is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology and is specializing in Mortuary Archaeology. She received her M.Sc. with Distinction in Human Osteoarchaeology from University of Edinburgh, and her B.A. from State University of New York at Geneseo where she majored in Anthropology. Her dissertation research examines the relationships between cremation and inhumation burials in early Anglo-Saxon England using statistical and spatial methods. She has been involved in the Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative Fellowship, which helps graduate students use digital tools to answer social science questions, and the Campus Archaeology Program, that mitigates and protects archaeological resources on MSU's campus. As a returning FAST Fellow, Katy wants to build on her previous research in digital literacy to explore the ways in which technology can be integrated into the student learning process to help them develop digital skills while learning the archaeological course material.

Kelsey Funkhouser is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Physics and Astronomy Department. She earned her B.S. in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Washington. Kelsey spent her first two years at MSU analyzing the X-ray light from a previously unstudied population of galaxy clusters. Once she finishes her current astronomy project, Kelsey will begin work on Astronomy education research in the Physics Education Research Lab at MSU. For her FAST project, Kelsey will look into the differences in equity and diversity in Physics as compared to Biology.

Rewatee Gokhale is doctoral student in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Prior to starting her Ph.D at MSU, Rewatee completed her B.S in Microbiology from the University of Pune, India and her M.S in Biochemistry from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, India. Her doctoral dissertation focuses on understanding the mechanisms of growth control involved in regulating organ size in the common fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster. She has been a TA at MSU for a number of introductory biology courses, and has also mentored several undergraduate research projects in her lab. As a FAST fellow, she is interested in studying the effect of a structured help-room and review session on student performance and learning in the course. Additionally, she is also interested in developing tools and strategies to help improve students quantitative skills and their application in biology.

Witawas Handee is a sixth year Ph.D. candidate in Cell and Molecular Biology program. He received B.S. in Biology from Silpakorn University, Thailand. Currently, he works in Min-Hao Kuo’s lab in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology department. His research interest focuses on how lipids regulate lifespan in molecular level using yeast as the model organism. He has been a teaching assistant for biochemistry courses. For FAST program, he is interested in developing learner-centered assessment tools to determine student metacognition and self-satisfaction in classrooms.

Frances Harper is a fourth year doctoral student in the Program in Mathematics Education. She earned two master's degrees; one at Stanford University in Curriculum and Teacher Education, with a focus in Mathematics Education, and one at Harvard University in Mathematics for Teaching. After completing her B.A. at Tufts University, Frances worked as an educator for 9 years, teaching K-12 reading and mathematics in various urban settings. Her dissertation investigates students' experiences in an urban mathematics classroom where the teacher focuses explicitly on equity and social justice in her mathematics instruction. To her work as a teacher educator working with prospective and practicing teachers, Frances brings a passion for supporting teachers to engage all students in doing meaningful and challenging mathematics. Her FAST project will focus on her continued efforts to weave a focus on equity and social justice into the secondary mathematics methods courses she teaches at MSU.

Corrine Higley is a fourth year Ph. D. student the department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. She received her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan where she majored in the Program in the Environment, with a specialization in fisheries and aquatic ecology. She received her M.S. from Michigan State University in the department of Fisheries and Wildlife where she studied the growth and timing of emergence of several closely related mayfly species in a northern cold water stream. Corrine’s dissertation research centers on the influence of experiential learning in introductory undergraduate courses in the department of Fisheries and Wildlife, with a focus on how various teaching pedagogies impact students’ attitude about the environment. As a FAST fellow, she is interested in evaluating flipped classroom techniques in lab courses heavily vested in experiential learning.

Bethany Huot is a University Enrichment Fellow pursuing her Ph.D. in the Cell and Molecular Biology program. Her thesis research is a collaborative project with Dr. Sheng Yang He and Dr. Beronda Montgomery focused on identifying the molecular mechanisms underlying temperature modulation of salicylic acid-mediated signaling and Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (DC3000) pathogenesis in Arabidopsis. Growing up as a missionary kid, Bethany’s exposure to life in countries like Thailand, Vietnam and the Dominican Republic inspired her interest in studying the regulatory mechanisms underlying key agronomic traits in an effort to make nutritional food more accessible to people around the world. Bethany has also developed a strong passion for teaching as well as mentoring students in their pursuit of scientific careers. Following her participation in the American Society for Microbiology Science Teaching Fellows Program in 2014-2015, Bethany applied for the MSU FAST fellow program to gain more experience in writing learning outcomes and in designing assessments to better gauge student learning. Bethany also created and leads The Pub Club (https://thecomonline.net/), which is a scientific community that helps its members “stay on the edge of science” while increasing networking and career development opportunities for undergraduates, Ph.D. students and postdocs.

Matthew Kolp is a 4th year PhD student dually enrolled in the department of Plant Biology and in the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior program. He received his B.S. from MSU in Horticulture in 2012. Currently, his research focuses on questions in microbial ecology, specifically the fungal community within diseased bark tissue of the American chestnut, and how certain fungi may influence disease. Matt has been a T.A. for several semesters, and as a FAST fellow, he will explore how a plant taxonomy course can be changed from a lab focused in memorization and lecturing, to an inquiry-based classroom where students are encouraged to ask and test questions about the big ideas in plant systematics.

Nora Lewin is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in Integrative Biology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior. She earned her B.A. in Neuroscience & Behavior from Vassar College in 2008. Her doctoral research investigates physiological predictors of aging and lifespan in wild spotted hyenas. As a FAST fellow, she is interested in assessment of non-academic learning acquired during undergraduate study abroad programs and how these skills may influence future student performance.

Arash Mahyari started his Ph.D. program in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2012. He completed his B.S. and M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering in 2006 and 2009 in Iran. His research interest is signal, image and video processing, statistical signal processing, pattern recognition. He worked on image fusion algorithms as a part of his MSc thesis, which led to several journal and conference publications. He also completed a few industrial projects. Currently, he is working as a research assistant to investigate the functional connectivity of human brain during simple tasks. Moreover, he has three years of teaching experience as an adjunct instructor and faculty member in Iran. As a FAST fellow, he’d like to redesign engineering courses with emphasis on math such that students can see the applications of math and feel more motivated to learn them.

Pegah Rajaei is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. Her research interests are in the areas of geotechnics and pavement. She received her undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from Ferdowsi University, Iran in 2008 and her M.S degree in Geotechnical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran in 2012. In her M.S thesis she looked into characteristics of reservoir induced seismicity (RIS) potential in Karkheh Dam, Iran. Currently, her Ph.D. research consists of using different statistical and numerical techniques to model thermal behavior of soil especially in subgrade layer under the pavement. Pegah was laboratory instructor in two different undergraduate courses in the first two years of her Ph.D. study. Currently she is lead TA in one of the biggest general courses in the College of Engineering and laboratory instructor in a graduate level course. As a FAST fellow, she is interested in using interactive teaching approach in order to improve student’s understanding in laboratory especially in demonstration tests.

2014 - 2015 FAST Fellows

Wouter Brink is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. He received his B.S. and M.S. from MSU in 2009 and 2011 in Civil Engineering. His research interests are in the areas of concrete and asphalt pavements. As part of his M.S. degree he looked at the feasibility of precast concrete pavements as a rapid repair technique in high traffic volume areas where long term lane closures are not possible. Currently, his Ph.D. research consists of applying different statistical techniques to calibrate pavement performance prediction models to reflect Michigan conditions. Wouter has been a T.A. for several semesters and assisted in course development for an undergraduate engineering course. As a FAST fellow, he is interested in improving the disconnect between theory taught in the classroom and how it is applied in the field. The main focus would be on interventions which could measure student understanding in a laboratory environment.

Eric Bruger is a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and in the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior graduate program, and a member of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. He earned a B.S. in Bacteriology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Eric is interested in questions at the interface of evolutionary biology and microbiology. In his dissertation, he examines the ecological and evolutionary impacts of a form of chemical signaling known as quorum sensing in bacteria. Specifically, he investigates the role of quorum sensing in mediating cheating behavior over secreted public goods. As an instructor in microbiology, he believes that students in the field would benefit from more emphasis on evolutionary and population thinking. As a FAST Fellow, Eric would like to examine how students learn about the mutational process and what teaching approaches could alleviate common misconceptions that occur.

Alyssa Burkhardt is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Cell and Molecular Biology program and works in Brad Day’s lab in the Plant, Soil, and Microbial Sciences department. She graduated with a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from Butler University, a small liberal arts school, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Alyssa’s research is focused on molecular plant pathology of cucumber downy mildew. She is interested in bioinformatics and is studying the transcriptional response of a resistant cucumber to infection with downy mildew with the goal of identifying genes involved in host resistance. Alyssa has been a teaching assistant for multiple biology lab courses and is interested in understanding how students develop problem solving skills through experiential learning.

Kari Dammerman is a fifth year Ph.D candidate in Zoology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior at Michigan State University. She received her undergraduate degree in Marine Biology with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Alaska Southeast. She is currently studying the contributions of genetic and environmental effects on larval lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) development and behavior. She is particularly interested in how climatic changes will impact phenotypic variation within wild populations. For the FAST program, Kari will look at how social media can be used as a teaching tool for enhancing in-classroom collaboration and discussion.

Markus Downey grew up in Berlin, Germany and completed his high school education there. Attending the University of Rhode Island, he earned a B.A. in German and a B.S. chemical engineering in 2002 and a M.S. in Chemical Engineering in 2004. Gathering some experience as a research engineer and technical applications engineer in exhaust gas aftertreatment industry in both Germany and the United States, Markus started work on his Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Michigan State University in 2012. His chosen field of work is polymer composites, nano-composites and graphene. Through the FAST fellowship, Markus intends to explore the field of education on the university level in more detail and expand his educational horizon by learning from the other FAST fellows from other disciplines.

Amber Goguen is a University Enrichment Fellow and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow pursuing a joint M.S/Ph.D. in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. She earned a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation and a B.A. in Studio Art from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her research interests are interdisciplinary – studying conservation issues from both an ecological and social lens. Amber’s graduate research is in the human dimensions of wildlife management, with a focus on understanding the role of natural resource consumption in coupling of human and natural systems. As a FAST fellow, she is interested in studying student social networks within and beyond the classroom.

Andrew Krause is a doctoral student with the Program in Mathematics Education and he earned his Masters in Mathematics after Spring 2013. He also did his undergraduate degree at MSU, so he is very green. His research interests lie in undergraduate mathematics teaching and learning, specifically during the first two years (more during the first year, so courses at MSU from MTH 1825 - Intermediate Algebra through MTH 133 - Calculus II). During Fall, 2014 he is teaching sections of MTH 132 and working as a Teaching Mentor for MTH 124 and 132 instructors. He loves to play softball, cook, garden, and exploring the world with his wife, who is currently back in school earning her teaching certificate in hopes of teaching underserved middle schoolers English and Social Studies. That's relevant because they spent the summer of 2014 team-leading summer educational camps (robotics, egg drops, toothpick bridges, Scratch) for 7-12 year-old girls in their community at Foster Community Center (Lansing).

Katy Meyers is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology and is specializing in Mortuary Archaeology. She received her M.Sc. with Distinction in Human Osteoarchaeology from University of Edinburgh, and her B.A. from State University of New York at Geneseo where she majored in Anthropology. Her dissertation research examines the relationships of cremation and inhumation burials in early Anglo-Saxon England using statistical and spatial methods. She has been involved in the Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative Fellowship, which helps graduate students use digital tools to answer social science questions, and the Campus Archaeology Program, that mitigates and protects archaeological resources on MSU's campus. As a FAST Fellow, Katy is interested in examining the ways in which technology can be embedded into the student learning process to allow them develop digital skills while learning the non-digital course material.

Joanne Philhower is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Program in Mathematics Education. She earned her B.S. in Secondary Education specializing in mathematics from the University of Evansville and a M.S. in Education from Indiana University Kokomo. She taught high school mathematics for 11 years at Tri-Central Community Schools, in central Indiana, primarily teaching variations of Algebra 1 & 2. She also taught one seventh-grade class of Pre-Algebra during this time. Her research interests are formative assessment and student thinking/learning in the context of Algebra. While at Michigan State University, she has had the privilege to work with the Secondary Mathematics Teacher Preparation Program for three years, serving as a field instructor, teaching assistant for the senior-level mathematics methods courses, and co-teaching the intern-level mathematics methods courses. Working with teachers (pre-service and practicing) is a passion for Joanne and something she would like to continue doing in the future. She has also worked with the Connected Mathematics Project, Formative Assessment for Michigan Educators project, and ERGO. All of these projects have helped develop her knowledge of curriculum and passion for assessment. Her practicum research focused on students' understanding of algebraic word problems, which is a topic she would like to continue studying in the future. Her FAST project will focus on her continued development of formative assessment practices in her classroom and supporting the interns in developing their own assessment practices.

Julie Plasencia is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. Prior to returning for her Ph.D., Julie worked as a clinical dietitian, in-patient and outpatient diabetes educator and as an Extension nutrition specialist, developing community nutrition programs for the Hispanic community in Las Vegas, NV. At MSU, Julie’s research is in studying how culture influences dietary behaviors of Mexican-Americans with type 2 diabetes. Julie’s diverse experiences as an educator include teaching Spanish diabetes courses and serving as a teaching assistant at MSU for two upper level courses in the dietetics program. As a FAST fellow, Julie is interested in assessing how students utilize cultural competency skills, specifically nutrition and dietetics-related, during their supervised practice internship.

Kateri Salk is a third year Ph.D. student in the Zoology Department and the Environmental Science and Policy Program. Her research focuses on the biogeochemical transformations of nitrogen in aquatic ecosystems. Specifically, she investigates the response of microbial communities to changing environmental conditions such as nitrogen supply, redox gradients, sources of organic carbon, and human disturbance. Kateri is also interested in bringing the interactions between ecological and human systems into the classroom through active learning strategies, technological approaches, and assessment techniques that encourage critical thinking.

Trisha A. Smrecak is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geological Sciences. She received her BS in Geology at St. Lawrence University, an MS in Geology at the University of Cincinnati. Prior to starting her dissertation work at MSU, she worked for three years at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY. Her research focuses on encrusting marine invertebrate fossils and how they responded to changes in environmental conditions through time. She has over five years of experience teaching various courses as a teaching assistant and an adjunct instructor. Trisha is particularly interested in the intersection of formal and informal education and how college students can benefit from informal learning environments like museums and field sites. As a FAST Fellow, she will explore these boundaries by studying the impact of museum exhibits on college- aged learners. She is also working on studying the effect of jargon in cognitive understanding among scientists and in college-aged learners. She took a brief hiatus from graduate school in 2014 to pursue a lifelong goal of thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail.

2013 - 2014 FAST Fellows

Niroj Aryal is a dual major Ph. D. candidate in department of Biosystems Engineering and Agricultural Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received MS in Biosystems Engineering from MSU in 2010. His research interests are in areas of emerging pollutants, environmental remediation, and water quality. Niroj’s dissertation research focuses on development of sustainable technology for food processing wastewater treatment using poplar plantations. He also is keenly interested in novel instructional techniques in classroom to enhance student learning. As a FAST fellow in 2012/13, Niroj evaluated perception of students towards flipped classrooms and their performance in an upper level undergraduate engineering course. In 2013/14, Niroj is looking at enhancing student accountability in out-of-class activities, such as preassignments.

Cynthia Balthazar is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Community Sustainability; she is focusing on program planning and evaluation and international community development. This academic year, she received the Milton H. Steinmueller Fellowship and through the fellowship, assisted in teaching a Program Planning and Evaluation course in her department. Broadly, her research interests are in planning and evaluation of international education and development programs. Her undergraduate background is in mathematics, chemistry and education. She has taught in public schools, community colleges and the university and have spent some time home-schooling her children. With this wide array of educational experiences, and her current position as a part –time mathematics teacher with the Lansing Public schools (grades 7 and 12), another interest is in the education American children are getting as it prepares them for their post-secondary plans; as it ranks in the global arena; and how colleges and universities can help effect change to decrease the gap in knowledge that forces students to spend their first years in the university taking remediation courses.

Justin Beauchamp is a sixth year Cell and Mollecular Biology doctoral candidate working in Claire Vieille’s lab at Michigan State University. He graduated with a B.A. in Chemistry and Mollecular Biology/Biochemistry from Goshen College. He is currently a GAANN fellow as part of the Interdisciplinary Bioelectronics Training Program. Justin’s research focuses on developing a bioelectronics interface that will allow dehydrogenase enzymes to be used as catalysts with electrochemical cofactor regeneration. He is primarily studying Thermotoga maritima glycerol dehydrogenase which can be used to produce dihydroxyacetone from glycerol. He is studying the enzymes properties and developing methods for cofactor and enzyme immobilization. As a FAST fellow, he is interested in studying how the introvert/extrovert personality traits affect student participation and homework completion.

Alita Burmeister grew up in Wisconsin, where she earned her B.S. in bacteriology and worked as a microbiologist in the cheese industry. She moved to Michigan State University to study the basic facets of coevolution of bacterial cells and their viruses. Using experimental evolution, her primary research interests include how coevolution yields diversity and life history trait evolution. Alita teaches a microbial genetics laboratory for undergrads, where she is integrating evolutionary thinking into the curriculum and developing tools to teach applications of evolutionary biology. Alita is a third-year graduate student in the Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, & Behavior Program.

Tom Finzell is a third year Ph.D. student in the Astronomy department at Michigan State University. He received his undergraduate degree in both Physics and Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently studying a type of explosive event known as a nova, which are the slightly less energetic (though more common) version of a supernova. Nova events fall under the category of transients, meaning that each event is exceptionally bright and they can only be studied for a brief period of time before fading away. In terms of teaching and the FAST Fellowship, Tom is interested in how students understand physics specific words and terms, the effect of social interactions in peer learning situations, and preconceived notions students have regarding physics.

Adam Fritsch is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University. He received his B.A. degree in Physics from Wabash College. At MSU, he is a research assistant in experimental nuclear physics at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, and has collaborated with other institutions and laboratories including the University of Notre Dame and Argonne National Laboratory. Adam's dissertation research investigates the cluster structure of Carbon-14 by way of a 40 MeV Beryllium-10 beam incident on Helium-4. As a FAST fellow, Adam will look at how methods for teaching introductory undergraduate physics, on which there is much research, may differ from the best methods for teaching advanced undergraduate studies in physics and for general physics educational outreach.

Indumathy (Indu) Jayamani is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. She received her M.S in Civil and Environmental Engineering from MSU in 2009. Her research interests are in bioremediation of recalcitrant and emerging contaminants and the application of molecular biology tools in laboratory and field studies for remediation. Indu’s dissertation focuses on using a molecular tool ‘Stable Isotope Probing’ to identify microorganisms involved in bioremediation of BTEX and RDX in laboratory microcosms. From a teaching perspective, she is interested in designing and using effective assessments as a teaching and learning tool. She is also interested in identifying best teaching and learning methods from her student and teaching experience to improve learning via metacognition.

Cory Kohn is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Zoology and in the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior graduate program, and a member of the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. He earned a B.S. in Ecology and Evolution, and a B.A. in History and Philosophy of Science and in Anthropology from the University of Pittsburgh. Cory is an evolutionary biologist whose dissertation work focuses on exploring the utility of non-biological evolving systems in investigating population differentiation. Specifically, he uses digitally evolving populations to construct known evolutionary histories from which to test the conditional ability of historical inference methodologies, i.e. phylogenetics. As an instructor in evolutionary biology, he acknowledges the unique challenges regarding students' conceptual understanding within his field. As a FAST Fellow, Cory would like to examine whether instruction in the science is sufficient in resolving misconceptions or if those preconceived ideas should be addressed directly.

Isis Kuczaj is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and in the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. Additionally, she is enrolled in the Disease Ecology and Conservation Medicine doctoral specialization, and a Certificate in College Teaching. Isis’ primary research intertwines behavioral and disease ecology by examining how variation in vector behavior contributes to the epidemiology of Lyme disease in the eastern United States. As a FAST fellow, Isis is interested in identifying and developing effective methods to motivate student learning. To do this, she would like to assess student attitudes and understanding of the learning objectives for a module designed to educate students about the interdependence of ecosystems and human health.

Jonathan Markey is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Plant Biology. As a recipient of the Award for Excellence Scholarship, he earned his B.S. degree in Chemistry, with a minor in Biology, from Saginaw Valley State University. He earned an M.S. degree in Pharmacology from the University of Vermont’s College of Medicine, where he worked in the lab of Dr. Anthony Morielli studying the regulation of voltage gated potassium channels. His thesis work was featured in a 2007 article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Currently a graduate student in the Ebert-May lab at MSU, Jonathan’s interests lie in the area of discipline-based education research. His current dissertation research involves developing and validating an instrument to measure the pedagogical content knowledge of post-secondary instructors in the context of selected genetics and molecular biology topics. As a FAST fellow, Jonathan is interested in studying students’ alternative conceptions of selected genetics and molecular biology concepts.

Julie Plasencia is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. She received her MS in Human Nutrition from MSU in 2008 and subsequently obtained the registered dietitian credential. Prior to returning for her Ph.D., Julie worked as a clinical dietitian, in-patient and outpatient diabetes educator and as an Extension nutrition specialist, developing community nutrition programs for the Hispanic community in Las Vegas, NV. Her research and practice interests are diabetes and chronic disease, diabetes self-management education and reducing health disparities through nutrition education, with a special interest in Hispanic/Latino populations. As a FAST fellow, Julie is interested in assessment of cultural competency skills in students who intend to work in health care professions, specifically nutrition and dietetics.

Eileen S. Rodriguez-Tapia is a fifth year graduate student in the Neuroscience Program. She received her B.A. in Biology from University of Puerto Rico at Cayey Campus. Her dissertation research focuses on understanding the functional relevance of voltage-gated calcium channels in the regulation of gut motility. Her teaching as research project will focus on identifying the most common misconceptions that science students hold and investigate how two different teaching styles change those misconceptions. Completion of these studies will allow her determine which instruction method is more effective and potentially target the features making it successful. Her long-term goal is to become a well-rounded professor and as such she wants her students to see the learning process as an exciting and productive one. She sees the FAST Program as the perfect track to master the skills that will allow her to become the teacher the science education world is expecting.

Trisha A. Smrecak is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geological Sciences. She received her BS in Geology at St. Lawrence University, an M.S. in Geology at the University of Cincinnati. Prior to starting her dissertation work at MSU, she worked for three years at the Paleontological Research Institution in Ithaca, NY. Her research focuses on encrusting marine invertebrate fossils and how they responded to changes in environmental conditions through time. She has over five years of experience teaching various courses as a teaching assistant and an adjunct instructor. Trisha is particularly interested in the intersection of formal and informal education and how college students can benefit from informal learning environments like museums and field sites. As a FAST Fellow, she will explore these boundaries by studying the impact of museum exhibits on college- aged learners.

Neil White is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is from Michigan and received his B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Michigan State University. His dissertation research is on thermodynamics, kinetics, and dynamics of ribozymes (RNA enzymes). Neil has been a TA for MSU multiple times and mentored students in the research lab he is in. These enriching experiences have left him with questions he wishes to explore as a FAST fellow. His teaching as research project will focus on student and teacher reflections on metacognition to enhance teaching and learning via improved selection and implementation of methodology.

2012 - 2013 Fast Fellows

Niroj Aryal is a third year dual major Ph. D. student in department of Biosystems Engineering and Agricultural Engineering, and Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received MS in Biosystems Engineering from MSU in 2010. His research interests are in areas of emerging pollutants, environmental remediation, and water quality. He also has keen interest in sustainable development and climate change education. Niroj’s dissertation research focuses on development of sustainable technology for food processing wastewater treatment using poplar plantations. As a FAST Fellow, he wants to evaluate different forms of pre-assignment and its role in improving student’s learning.

Felix Cheung is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology at Michigan State University. He received his B.A. in Psychology from University of California, Los Angeles. Felix’s research focuses on the causes and consequences of subjective well-being, with an interest in how economic factors (e.g., personal income, state-level income inequality, etc.) predict life satisfaction. He is currently studying the extent to which the recent economic recession is associated with changes in life satisfaction in the US. As a FAST fellow, Felix is interested in improving assessment methodology such that tests not only measure students’ knowledge, but also promote students’ long term memory of the course materials. Felix is also an avid amateur photographer.

Hongli Gao is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Mathematics at Michigan State University. Hongli is originally from China where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Master in Operational Research and Control Theory from Jilin University. Her research focuses on the Partial Differential Equations (PDE) and Calculus of Variations. Hongli has three years’ experience in teaching and she is also a supervisor of Math Learning Center (MLC) at MSU. She has a great passion in teaching and her career goal is to teach at an undergraduate focused college. As a FAST Fellow, she is interested in investigating ways to motivate students in a math class and also to help them improve their grades.

Ryan Gunderson is a second year doctoral student in Sociology at Michigan State University. He received his M.A. at the University of Wyoming in 2011 where he researched the social, environmental, and animal welfare consequences of intensive, mechanized, large-scale livestock production. His research and teaching interests broadly include environmental sociology, social theory, animal studies, and political economy.

Hovig Kouyoumdjian is a fifth year bio-organic chemistry Ph.D. candidate at Michigan State University. He earned an M.S. in atmospheric-analytical chemistry from the American University of Beirut. His dissertation research focuses on early detection of Alzheimer’s Disease, using glycol-conjugated super paramagnetic Iron-oxide nanoparticles via Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). He has been instructing college-chemistry classes and labs since 2003, and as a FAST fellow would like to answer some of the accumulated questions that had developed throughout his teaching years. He is interested in exploring the aspects of utilizing audiovisual techniques or technologies to enhance teaching effectiveness and to assess students’ learning of chemistry.

Abigail (Abby) Lynch is a University Distinguished Fellow and a member of the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability within the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. Abigail is currently a fourth year doctoral student with a dual major in Fisheries and Wildlife and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior. Additionally, she is enrolled in the Environmental Science and Policy doctoral specialization, and a Certificate in College Teaching. Abigail’s primary research interests focus on linking fish conservation and management with human systems. Her dissertation research examines the impact of climate change on harvest management of Great Lakes lake whitefish, the largest commercial fishery in the upper Great Lakes. Abigail wants to educate students in the application and power of the scientific method rather than just scientific “facts.” She has a strong commitment to interdisciplinary approaches and policy-relevant research and believes that active communication between the student and the professor is necessary to achieve the impact desired.

Lisa Rebenitsch is a fourth year Ph.D. student in computer science with a primary interest in virtual environments. She is interested in most aspects of virtual environments, but have particular interest in the effects on the participant physically. She hopes to create guidelines on how long people can stay in these systems safely. Her teaching interests lie in the effect of teaching methods on individual students within the class improvement as a whole in order to enhance the teaching method. To do this she also wants to consider how group projects help people learn and how to improve them by considering the amount learn by the individual in these groups.

Sumathi Venkatesh is a third year Ph.D candidate in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University. Sumathi received her B.S. in Nutrition and Dietetics from Madras University of India and her M.S. in Human Nutrition from Michigan State University. Sumathi’s dissertation research focuses on developing and validating a scale to assess the dietary acculturation of Asian Indian immigrants. Dietary behaviors of immigrants and ethnic minorities have always been a fascinating topic to her, which she believes to continue in the future. Sumathi is a member of various professional organizations and has received several scholarships. At Michigan State University, she has served as a graduate assistant with both teaching and research responsibilities. Sumathi is interested in the assessment of student learning and in developing instructional methods to enhance critical thinking and technical writing skills of college students.

Emily Weigel is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Zoology and in the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Biology with a focus on interdisciplinary research from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Emily has since taken her passion of working interdisciplinary to her work at MSU in association with the BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action. Emily's dissertation research combines sexual selection in three-spine stickleback with that in digital organisms. She seeks to understand how female choice and investment interact with male mating strategies within stickleback, and to determine, using digital organisms, how generalizable stickleback evolutionary patterns are to other species. As a FAST fellow, Emily is interested in quantifying how and why a background in genetics affects student comprehension of topics in evolutionary biology.

Cameron Thomas Whitley is a doctoral student in Sociology with specializations in Animal Studies, Environmental Science and Policy (ESPP) and Gender, Justice and Environmental Change (GJEC). He grew up in Colorado and completed his BA in Sociology from the University of Colorado at Boulder (2005) and his MA in Sociology from Michigan State University (2009). Cameron is an environmental sociologist with a particular interest in applying interdisciplinary approaches to address social problems and issues of environmental justice. Much of his work centers on climate change, natural resource extraction and conservation, and human-animal relationships. His recent work has addressed the intersection of animal production, legislation and violence/cruelty/crime; the structural drivers of greenhouse gas emissions; and the use of animal images to convey climate-change messages. Cameron is currently engaged in research addressing energy extraction, policy and environmental justice in the hydraulic fracturing debate. In addition to environmental sociology, Cameron is interested in teaching as research and has examined how image-based assignments can improve student achievement and satisfaction. Along these lines, he is a FAST Fellow for 2011-present and was invited to participant at the Socio-environmental Synthesis Education Workshop in May 2012 presented by the National Science Foundation-funded National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center.

2011 - 2012 FAST Fellows

David Achila is a sixth year Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular biology at Michigan State University. David is originally from Kenya where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Chemistry from Egerton University. He subsequently moved to Western Michgan University where he graduated with a Masters degree in Chemistry before joining Michigan State University. His dissertation research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of immune system evasion by pathogens. Other research activities he has participated in at Michigan State involved probing the function of small GTPases in ribosome biogenesis in gram positive bacteria. As a FAST fellow, he is interested in investigating the use of technology to enhance teacher-student interaction, improve students engagement and learning.

Nick Ballew is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Zoology and in the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from Louisiana State University. Nick’s dissertation research focuses on the ecological consequences of personality in largemouth bass. He seeks to understand how boldness and aggression impact reproductive success in non-fished bass populations and if the relationship between these behaviors and reproductive success is altered by fishing during the bass nesting season. As a FAST fellow, Nick is interested in learning new instructional techniques in the sciences and ways to assess student learning.

Wenning Feng is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Statistics and Probability at Michigan State University. He received his B.S. in Statistics from University of Science and Technology of China in 2008 and his M.S. in Statistics from Michigan State University in 2010. His research topics focus on the development of Statistical methodology of spatial data. During his Ph.D. study at Michigan State University, Wenning has two years’ experience in teaching, both in recitation and independently, for which he received a William L. Harkness Student Teaching Award from the Department of Statistics and Probability, and a half year’s experience in Consulting for statistical practices in the Center for Statistical Training and Consulting (CSTAT). Wenning’s teaching-as-research interest is to study the contribution of the application-driven method to the general statistical education of the introductory level for the undergraduate students, compared to the theory-driven method.

Emily Norton Henry is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program and the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University. She earned a Bachelors of Science in Biology/Ecology at Purdue University. Prior to starting her doctoral studies at MSU, Emily worked for nearly three years for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Her dissertation research focuses on the effects of shoreline development on Michigan inland lake biota, particularly the effects on movement and habitat use in two native turtle species. As a FAST fellow, Emily is interested in learning new instructional methods, assessment techniques, and ways to motivate students and improve student attitudes toward biology.

Jasmina Jakupovic is a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Neuroscience Program. She received her BA in Biology with Specialization in Neuroscience in 2007 from Boston University. Her research looks at the effects of probiotics on gut pain and motility with focus on an animal model of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. As part of the FAST Fellowship Program she would like to learn how to adapt her teaching methods to the needs of different students, class sizes, subjects and modes of delivery. In particular, she is interested in comparing the effectiveness of online learning to in-class learning.

LeighAnn Jordan is a third year graduate student in the Department of Chemistry. She received her B.S. in Biochemistry from Westminster College in New Wilmington Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the characterization and analysis of mesenteric vessels from gastric-bypass patients. Her teaching as research project will focus on general chemistry recitations: how to improve these supplemental classes by analyzing worksheets, structure, material covered, TA presence and professor involvement. She hopes to not only become a professor but a mentor that inspires lifelong learners. Through teaching as research, she hopes to continue on her journey towards her career goals. A few of those goals are to show that chemistry is relevant to all majors, motivate even the most unlikely students, and teach for understanding.

Jennifer Rebecca Kelly studies environmental sociology focusing on the relationship that humans have with the living world. With an interdisciplinary background her scholarship and views on the nature society divide have embraced a holistic approach. As such, her interests have taken on an experiential dimension, that is, where nature and wildlife interface most vividly with humans. This is revealed in a broad range of areas including: perceptions of wildlife, the question of hunting, an individual’s encounter with the portrait of a wild animal, and the role of experiential education centered on the student immersion into a natural environment. Her time as a FAST fellow will involve assessing a Climate Change and Society course using a modified version of the How People Learn pedagogical model. She holds a BA in Communication and a MS in Environmental Science and Policy.

Amanda Malefyt is a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science with a research focus on biomolecular engineering of therapeutics. She received her bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering from Tri-State (now Trine) University in Angola, IN. After working in the pharmaceutical industry for three years as a process engineer, she decided to return to school to pursue her Ph.D. with the final goal of teaching at a small, undergraduate focused college. Through the FAST program, Amanda hopes to develop methods for creating classroom environments in which students are continually motivated and engaged in applying new ideas toward solving current engineering challenges.

Lisa Rebenitsch is a third year Ph.D. student in computer science with a primary interest in virtual environments. She is interested in most aspects of virtual environments, but have particular interest in nontraditional interfaces to these systems. Traditional interfaces use 3D mice, head tracking, and keyboards. However, the interface channels she is considering are mostly based on human electrical signals such as the electrical activity in muscular movement. These interfaces can be conscious (e.g. typing or navigation) or unconscious (e.g. adjusting the interface in reference to stress/cybersickness levels). Her teaching interests lie in the effect of teaching methods on individual students within the class improvement as a whole in order to enhance the teaching method.

Mark Tran is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Zoology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior program at Michigan State University. He received his Bachelors of Science in Biology at the State University of New York-Plattsburgh in 2008. His research interests are in the fields of Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Physiology. Mark’s dissertation research focuses on the use of chemical foraging cues by marine crustaceans with emphasis on the roles that physiology and ecology play in shaping which chemical cues are used by foraging animals to locate food resources. As a FAST fellow, he is interested in learning new methods of student assessment in the biological sciences, as well as researching the effectiveness of current assessment methods as part of his teaching-as-research project.

Chris Richardson is a fourth year Ph.D. student in Astrophysics at Michigan State University. He received his Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Applied Physics from Eastern Illinois University. He is currently performing plasma simulations in various astrophysical environments, in particular, the Crab Nebula and exotic objects known as Quasars. Aside from theoretical astrophysics, Chris is also interested in gender differences in physics and astronomy. In the classroom, he is interested in learning ways to keep advanced students challenged while simultaneously helping those who are falling behind.
*Participated in the CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning) Exchange Program.

Kathy Walsh is a fifth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Michigan State University in the subfield of experimental condensed matter physics, and she is currently a fellow in the Interdisciplinary Training Program in Bioelectronics. She earned a B.S. in Physics from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas in 2007 and an M.S. in Physics from MSU in 2009. Her research is aimed at measuring electrical transport properties of protein nanowires expressed by Geobacter sulfurreducens, which is tied into a long-term research interest in (bio-)remediation of toxic wastes, particularly from defense-related sites. From a teaching perspective, she is interested in leveling the metaphorical playing field for under-prepared students in introductory physics classes and in teaching effectively in classroom settings which include both traditional and returning adult students.

Cameron Thomas Whitley grew up in Colorado and graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2005 with a degree in Sociology and a minor in Ethnic Studies. Between graduating in 2005 and entering MSU in the fall of 2009, Cameron spent time engaged in HIV/AIDS prevention and education in the Virgin Islands and working as a financial officer in New York City. Cameron’s past research has focused largely on the intersections of sex, gender and sexuality; however his current interests are in environmental sociology, specifically regarding social attitudes around climate change, water quality and conservation, social movements and the social and political positioning of animals for corporate gain. Cameron also has a passion for research related to teaching and learning. When not engaged in research or teaching, Cameron enjoys being outdoors, photography, daily yoga, exploratory creative writing, social activism, chai tea lattes, and traveling around the world with his wife and thirteen-year-old yorkie named Pal.

2010 - 2011 FAST Fellows

Elizabeth Brisco (Beth) is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the interdepartmental Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology Program within the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Michigan State University. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia and her Master of Biotechnology degree from the University of Toronto. Beth worked for nearly four years in the field of policy and regulation in the agriculture biotechnology sector before commencing her doctoral studies. Her current thesis research focuses on the genetics of resistance in dry beans to a commercially damaging insect pest in Michigan. Her teaching research interests lie in the use of active learning strategies to communicate abstract concepts in teaching plant genetics.

Paulo Pires is a second year graduate student in the Pharmacology and Toxicology Program. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the Sao Paulo State University in Brazil, and his Master’s degree in Cell Biology from the Campinas State University, also in Brazil. After moving to the United Stated in 2007, he worked in the field of hypertension for almost 2 years before joining the PhD program. His doctoral studies are focused on the role of hypertension in structural alterations in the vasculature, and how they correlate with ischemic stroke risk. His teaching research interest lies in assessment of online learning.

Lissy Goralnik is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Fisheries in Wildlife with a focus on environmental ethics, nature writing, and experiential education. She came to MSU after receiving her MFA in creative writing from the University of Idaho, where she taught composition and creative writing, and with a lot of fieldwork as an outdoor and environmental educator for extended wilderness courses, where she teaches natural history, wilderness ethics, and backcountry travel. Her work at Michigan State seeks to bring these two worlds together—the intellectual and pragmatic, the humanities and sciences, the physical and theoretical—in an effort to enable a broad approach to environmental learning. She is interested in experiential environmental humanities learning at the college level and the role of care and an emotional connection to coursework as a means to stimulate engagement with environmental learning. Her FAST project will assess students’ written reflections from an experiential philosophy course she teaches on Isle Royale National Park to understand the impact of a pedagogy of care on student affective learning and relationship-building with the human and natural communities.

Ryan Maloney is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Structural Engineering from the University of California - San Diego, and came to Michigan State University with the goal of becoming a university professor in a more hands-on subject. His discipline research focuses on highly porous aerogel materials for thermal insulation and energy storage, which an emphasis on the materials needed for a sustainable society. His teaching research interests tend to focus on developing and evaluating methods for more efficient use of study time both inside and outside the classroom. Throughout his education Ryan has had a mixture of both excellent and less-than-stellar professors, and it is the former group to which he strives to belong.

Brenda Marie Marrero-Rosado is a fifth year Genetics graduate student at Michigan State University. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and received a B.S. in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico in 2006. Her dissertation project seeks to further understand genotype/environment interactions by studying the effects of methylmercury in two mouse models of neuronal calcium channelopathies: the tottering and lethargic mice. Teaching is her passion. She believes the best way she can benefit students is by acquiring the skills to improve her teaching abilities; the FAST program will help her achieve her goal of becoming a better, more effective teacher. She is especially interested in studying how she can positively influence students' study habits and keep them motivated to also learn outside the classroom.

Nicole Nichol is a fifth year graduate student in the interdepartmental program Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Biotechnology within the department of Crop and Soil Science at Michigan State University. She received her Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from Saint Mary’s College (Notre Dame, Indiana). Her research is focused on genetically modifying potato varieties for drought tolerance. Her teaching research focuses on the diversity in the classroom. She wants to investigate how students and instructors perceive and interact with the diversity that is present, and ultimately how it impacts the students’ ability to learn.

Chris Richardson is a third year Ph.D. student in Astrophysics at Michigan State University. He received his Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics and Applied Physics from Eastern Illinois University. He is currently researching the morphology of laminar flame fronts at low densities in type Ia supernovae. Using simple analytical models and reaction network calculations, he is determining the density at which the laminar flame speed and width become solely dependent on carbon burning. Aside from theoretical astrophysics, Chris is also interested gender differences in physics and astronomy and incorporating interactive learning in the classroom.
*Participated in the CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning) Exchange Program.

Allison Rober is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Zoology, the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program and the Environmental Science and Policy Program at Michigan State University. She earned a Bachelors of Science in Environmental Biology/Zoology at Michigan State University. Allison’s dissertation research focuses on the role of both biotic and abiotic factors in regulating benthic algal communities in northern latitude wetlands and how these factors will likely be influenced by climate change processes. Allison is interested in environmental education and the application of basic ecological concepts to understand complex problems related to restoration, environmental policy and management. As a FAST fellow, Allison is interested in learning new instructional techniques and ways to assess student learning.
*Participated in the CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning) Exchange Program.

Mamta Vardhan is an Environment Science and Policy Fellow and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of CARRS. She is currently writing her dissertation entitled, “Incentives based approaches to forest conservation: Implications for gender and collective action” based on her field research in the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania. Her research examines the social and gendered claims on local resources (such as land) brought on as a result of new market-based approaches to conservation that have gained ground as a tool for landscape conservation in the tropics. She examines the inter-linkages and dynamics of these local changes in context of global conservation policies from an interdisciplinary perspective drawing upon participatory and mixed-methods approaches. Prior to coming to graduate school, Mamta worked for seven years with a grassroots NGO in rural India on community based natural resource management projects. She is interested in pursuing an academic career that combines teaching with interdisciplinary and applied research. As a FAST fellow, Mamta is interested in exploring how life-experiences and engagement facilitate scholarship and learning in classroom settings, and the pedagogical approaches that support this kind of learning.

2009 - 2010 FAST Fellows

Elizabeth Brisco (Beth) is a third year Ph.D. student in the interdepartmental Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biotechnology Program within the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at Michigan State University. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of British Columbia and her Master of Biotechnology degree from the University of Toronto. Beth worked for nearly 4 years in the field of policy and regulation in the agriculture biotechnology sector before commencing her doctoral studies. Her current thesis research focuses on the genetics of resistance in dry beans to a commercially damaging insect pest in Michigan. Her teaching research interests lie in determining effective communication strategies to facilitate learning in the classroom.

Chieh Chen is a fourth-year graduate student in the Department of Psychology, Behavioral Neuroscience program, at Michigan State University. Interested in mental disorders, her research seeks to understand the role that sex hormones play in the etiology of these ailments. More specifically, she uses a conditional knock-out mouse model to decipher the effects of androgen and androgen receptor manipulation on anxiety-related behavior and their modes of action in the brain. She has lived and received education in different countries. Therefore, her interest in participating in the FAST Program stems from her desire to learn and develop a teaching style that will encourage critical scientific thinking among students from different backgrounds.

Malia Dong is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Plant Research Labs and Plant biology Department. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Willamette University (Salem, Oregon). She is interested in signal transduction pathways responding to plant abiotic stress and her undergraduate thesis examined the role of the plant hormone, auxin, in heat tolerance. She is currently researching the role of the circadian clock in plant freezing tolerance. She hopes that the FAST fellowship will make her more effective in teaching critical thinking and problem solving in both lecture and lab settings.
*Participated in the CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning) Exchange Program.

Lissy Goralnik is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Fisheries in Wildlife with a focus on environmental ethics, nature writing, and experiential education. She came to MSU after receiving her M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Idaho, where she taught composition and creative writing, and with lots of fieldwork as an outdoor and environmental educator for extended wilderness courses, where she teaches natural history, wilderness ethics, and backcountry travel. Her work at Michigan State seeks to bring these two worlds together—the intellectual and the pragmatic, the humanities and the sciences, the physical and the theoretical—in an effort to enable a broad approach to environmental learning. She is interested in experiential environmental humanities learning at the college level and the role of care and an emotional connection to coursework as a means to stimulate creative thinking about environmental problems. Her FAST project will assess written reflections from students in two different upper-level experiential philosophy courses she teaches at MSU to attempt to understand the role of active learning—field trips and an embedded outdoor experience—in learning and caring about the course content and the learning community.

Ryan Maloney is a third year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Structural Engineering from the University of California - San Diego. He came to Michigan State University with a goal of becoming a university professor in a subject of a more hands-on nature. His research focuses on highly porous aerogel materials for thermal insulation and energy technology, with an emphasis on the materials needed for a sustainable society. Throughout his education Ryan has had a mixture of both excellent and less-than-stellar professors, and it is the former group to which he strives to belong.

Robert A. Montgomery is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. He holds an M.S. degree from the University of Washington in Wildlife Science and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota in Physical Anthropology. Robert’s dissertation research relates to the quantitative ecology of large mammals. He is working on a variety of projects including accuracy assessments of wildlife resource use models and analysis of the environmental and biometric covariates that are consistent with moose carcass locations. Robert has had the opportunity to independently instruct and co-instruct several courses at Michigan State University. As a FAST Fellow he is interested in testing the effectiveness of conceptual models as learning tools in the classroom.
*Participated in the CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning) Exchange Program.

Emily Morrison is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Zoology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program. She received a Master of Science in biology from the University of Kentucky and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Geography from Clark University. Her dissertation research examines the ecology and behavior of birds using tropical forest restoration sites in Costa Rica. Her research interests include tropical biology, ornithology and restoration ecology. She is interested in outdoor education, field-based teaching and learning, and the effects of prior outdoor experiences on students' interest in science.

Madhan Subramanian is a veterinarian and completed his D.V.M. degree in 2005 from Madras Veterinary College, Chennai, India. After completing his veterinary degree, he underwent training in veterinary pathology at Chonnam National University, Gwanju, South Korea. Madhan joined the Ph.D. program in the Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation at Michigan State University in Spring 2008. Manhan’s research area is to understand the mechanisms behind which estrogen is playing a role in inducing hypertension and how this gained knowledge can contribute to the understanding and prevention of hypertension in women. His long term career goal is to become a productive academic researcher. He would like to pursue research in the area of neuroendocrine regulation of cardiovascular function. Specifically, he would like to understand how gonadal hormones affect cardiovascular function in young and aging population by altering brain function. Manhan currently serves as a teaching assistant in the Comparative Veterinary Gross Anatomy II course for freshmen veterinary students. He is interested in addressing the diversity of learning styles of students.

Kevin Wyatt is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Zoology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. He earned a Master of Science and a Bachelors of Science in Biology at the University of Southern Mississippi. Kevin’s dissertation research focuses on interactions between algae, wetlands, and the atmosphere to understand the resilience of wetland ecosystem processes to environmental changes in high latitude regions. Because much of his work focuses on climate-change issues, Kevin is interested in promoting public awareness of environmental issues through science education.

2008 - 2009 FAST Fellows

Anne Axel is a sixth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program. She earned a Master of Forest Science in wildlife ecology from the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of Delaware. Her research interests include wildlife-habitat relationships, biogeography, and landscape ecology. She conducts the majority of her field research in Madagascar where she studies effects of habitat alteration on the distribution and abundance of dry forest lemurs. She has pedagogical interests in field-based learning, media, information and environmental literacies, writing-to-learn activities, and visual rhetoric.

Kimberly Cervello (Kim) earned a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics with Secondary Education Certification and a minor in Sociology from the State University of New York at Geneseo, in May of 2005. She then pursued graduate work at Michigan State University (MSU) in the fall of 2005, and achieved her Masters in Mathematics two years later. Continuing her graduate studies at MSU, in the fall of 2007, Kim then transitioned into the Mathematics-Education Ph.D. program in the Division of Science and Mathematics Education. In addition to her course work, Kim has had the opportunity to teach mathematics courses for prospective elementary teachers, an undergraduate trigonometry course, and a mathematics capstone course for prospective secondary mathematics teachers. Her research experiences in mathematics were primarily in number theory, graph theory, combinatorics, and algebra. So far, her three main research experiences in mathematics-education were about calculus students' transition from secondary education to tertiary education, high school mathematics teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching reasoning and proof, and mathematics teaching assistants' mathematical knowledge for teaching the derivative. Kim's current research interests include knowledge and beliefs for teaching mathematics, teacher's decision-making, and professional development, especially at the collegiate level.

Geoff Horst is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program. He received his B.S. in Oceanography from the University of Michigan and M.S. in Marine Biology from California State University, Northridge. Geoff’s research interests are in the physiological ecology of aquatic and marine organisms. For his Masters work, he researched the effects of increasing temperature and CO2 levels on coral calcification and bleaching. His dissertation work at MSU focuses on the nutrient physiology toxin-producing cyanobacteria and the development of harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes region. Geoff’s research interests in teaching are focused on promoting scientific literacy among non-major undergraduates.

Carlos Jaramillo is a fourth year Ph.D. student in electrical engineering in the ECE department at Michigan State University. He received a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in 2005, his dissertation topic was Statistical methods for characterizing slot antenna configurations. Carlos Jaramillo's current research interests are conformal antennas and computational electromagnetics. He is also interested in the development of computer-assisted educational material to teach the theoretical and practical aspects of electromagnetics.

Neera Singh is a doctoral candidate with the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies at Michigan State. Her dissertation explores how rural communities in the state of Orissa, India have evolved collective arrangement to conserve forests. In specific she examines how women and other marginalized sections gain voice within forest governance and decision-making. She has extensive experience of working on issues of rural development and environment in India through her work with Vasundhara, an NGO that she founded. Her broad ranging interests in the area of nature-society interactions stem from her experience as a practitioner. In terms of teaching she is interested in feminist pedagogy, and exploring role of deliberation and engagement in learning contexts.

Jacqueline Stagner is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Department at Michigan State University. She received her Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Windsor, and her Master of Business Administration from Lawrence Technological University. Jacqueline worked for six years as a mechanical engineer in the automotive industry. Her research interests are in the area of sustainable materials and entrepreneurship. As a teaching assistant and teacher for standard test preparation courses, she is interested in focusing on students’ critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, which will help them in the classroom and in their future careers.

Greg Stricker is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Zoology Department and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University. Greg is currently working on a research project examining curiosity and cognitive ability within carnivores, which has included collaborative work with zoological institutions within Michigan as well as throughout the United States. Due to this work, Greg is interested in the utilization of settings outside the classroom, such as zoos, in science education, as well as the effect that environment may have on the learning process.

Lorna Watt is a second-year doctoral student in the Departments of Plant Biology and Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior. She is interested in plant evolutionary ecology and is developing an integrated study of origin of plant species from the scale of the gene to the environment. Other interests include ecological modeling, environmental perceptions in different cultures, and science education. Her hopes for this fellowship include using evolution education as a lens for teaching scientific inquiry.

Sara Wyse is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Plant Biology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program. Sara received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) in both Biology and Life Science Education. After spending two years studying carbon cycling and climate change in boreal systems, she discovered her true passion in teaching undergraduate students and her research now focuses on scientific teaching, where she desires to contribute to improvements in undergraduate biology education. Sara is interested in the development of the graduate teaching assistant both in practice and in beliefs about teaching and student learning.

2007 - 2008 FAST Fellows

Jill Arnold is a third year graduate student in the Sociology Department at Michigan State University. She received a dual Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Iowa. Her research interests concern the construction of family time, in particular how fathers perceive themselves within the family given their personal and work background. Starting from her first year of graduate school working as a teaching assistant, Jill realized the value of teaching as an important part of academic life. Her central pedagogical interests involve encouraging diversity within the classroom through a number of avenues.

George Berghorn is a second year PhD student in the Construction Management program at Michigan State University. He received a Master of Environmental Studies degree in watershed science from the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 1998 and a Bachelor of Science degree in political science and earth science from the SUNY College at Brockport in 1996. He worked for several years in environmental engineering and construction prior to beginning doctoral studies, where he was a project manager for soil and water remediation and brownfield projects. His research interests are in the arena of life cycle cost applied to sustainable construction on former brownfield sites. This interest in supplemented by an interest in teaching applied sciences, developed during several semesters teaching environmental science and organismal biology at Lansing Community College.

Yen Duong earned her Master's degree in aquaculture from Can Tho University, Vietnam. She is now a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program at Michigan State University. Her fields of interest include fisheries conservation, population genetics, population ecology and evolutionary biology. She also has a particular concern about developing different learning and teaching strategies to better prepare for her position as a university lecturer in Vietnam upon completion of her PhD studies.

Kristin Getter graduated with honors in 1993 from Michigan State University (MSU) with a B.S. in Mathematics. She later earned an M.S. in Horticulture (2006) from MSU. Her Master's thesis was titled Extensive Green Roofs: Plant Evaluations and the Effect of Slope on Stormwater Retention. She is continuing to work with vegetated roofs while earning her PhD (with an expected completion date of 2009). Her dissertation will focus primarily on quantifying the carbon sequestration potential of green roofs. Upon earning her doctorate, Kristin plans to teach at the college level.
*Participated in the CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning) Exchange Program.

Subbu Kumarappan is a third year PhD student in the Dept of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University. He has a Masters in Economics from Iowa State University and a Bachelors degree in Agriculture from Annamalai University (India). His research interests are varied encompassing ag products consumption behavior, business investment decisions, carbon markets, biofuels and biomass supply potential. With regard to teaching, he has served as a Teaching Assistant in various economics courses (micro, macro, marketing); the conferences, workshops and classroom activities in the MSU's 'Certification in College Teaching' has enabled him to develop a broader perspective of teaching. He is interested to include research in teaching as another focus area in his academic career.

Marcia LaCorbiniere-JnBaptise graduated with honors (BS) from Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical University (A&M), with dual degrees in Environmental Science and Crop Science, (1998); obtained MS degree from Iowa State University (2002) in Soil Science, where she formulated organic fertilizers. She is a PhD candidate in the department of Crop and Soil Sciences, with her research focused on sustainable crop production. She is evaluating the impact of various soil amendments on nutrient availability, soil quality, and crop yield. Additionally, Marcia recently completed the doctoral specialization in the Environmental Science and Policy program (ESPP) here at MSU. Her desire is to get involved with interdisciplinary research and some teaching/mentoring.

Wiline Pangle is currently a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in the department of Zoology at Michigan State University under the supervision of Dr. Kay E. Holekamp. Her dissertation, entitled "Threat-sensitive behavior and its ontogenetic development in to mammalian carnivores," focuses on the antipredator behavior of spotted hyenas in the wild and led her to carry out data collection in the Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya, where she resided for over 16 months. A native of France, Wiline Pangle holds a B.S. from McGill University, Montreal where she examined the antipredator behavior of the Eastern chipmunk. She has received multiple fellowships and grants to conduct her research, including the American Association of University Women International Fellowship and the Graduate Women in Sciences Eloise Gerry Fellowship. Wiline Pangle has also been actively involved in bringing sciences to the K-12 and promoting women in sciences, working in close collaborations with science teachers across Michigan, and developing inquiry-based activities to promote sciences at all levels of education.

Jungeun Park is a graduate student in Division of Science of Math education at Michigan State University (MSU). I am currently in my first year in the Mathematics Education program. I received a B.S. in Mathematics from Korea University in Korea. I also just finished a M.S. in Mathematics at MSU. I taught high school mathematics for four years in Korea. In MSU, I have taught a math class for perspective elementary teachers, College Algebra, Survey of Calculus. My research interests are the teaching and learning collegiate mathematics.

Sara Wyse is a third year doctoral student in the Department of Plant Biology and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program. Sara received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bethel University (St. Paul, MN) in both Biology and Life Science 5-12th Grade Education. After spending two years studying carbon cycling and climate change in boreal systems, she discovered her true passion in teaching undergraduate students and her research now focuses on scientific teaching, where she desires to contribute to improvements in undergraduate biology education. Specifically, Sara is interested in the development of the graduate teaching assistant and the subsequent impact on student learning in the laboratory and lecture classrooms.

Chao Yu is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. Chao received his bachelor and master degrees from Beihang University (China) in Aerospace Engineering. Now his research focuses on Aeroacoustic and Aerodynamic simulations including methodology developments and numerical analysis. Chao once worked as a TA in the Department of Mathematics and accumulated some teaching experiences. In 2007-2008, he will lecture an undergraduate mechanical engineering course, Fluid Mechanics lab.

2006 - 2007 FAST Fellows

Jana M. Simmons is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at MSU. She graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry from Alma College in 2004. While an undergraduate, Jana completed an honors thesis with Dr. Joe D. Beckmann. As a graduate student she is studying an enzyme from Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of African Sleeping Sickness. Jana is interested in researching the effects of relevance and application as motivational factors in learning.

Angelita (Gel) Alvarado -- was born and raised in Zamboanga City, Philippines. Filipinos call Zamboanga the City of Flowers because we have the most diverse tropical flowers in the country. I got my Bachelor in Science (Biology) degree from Xavier University in the Philippines. I came to the United States in September 2000 to pursue my masters at the School of Marine Affairs at the University of Washington in Seattle. I love the oceans and the coral reefs, and I am always looking for opportunities where I can help protect marine environments. I taught for a year at YMCA Storer Camps in Jackson, MI after I graduated at UW, then I started my doctoral program at MSU in fall 2003. My main research interests are education, marine resource management, and sustainable development. For my dissertation research, I will be looking at how teaching pedagogies influence students' ability or capacity to do something for or that will benefit the Great Lakes. I love to teach and I would love to continue teaching at a small college or university after I graduate.

Anne Axel -- is a fourth year joint doctoral student in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior Program. She is also pursuing a graduate specialization in African Studies. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies from the University of Delaware and a Master of Forest Science from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Her research interests are in the areas of wildlife-habitat relationships, biogeography, and landscape ecology. She conducts the majority of her field research in the African country of Madagascar where she is currently studying the effects of habitat alteration on the distribution and abundance of two species of lemurs in the tropical dry forests of the south. Recently Anne was awarded two Fulbright Fellowship awards to return Madagascar to complete her dissertation research. Anne co-developed the MSU Madagascar Study Abroad Program and led the first offering of that course in 2006. She will return to Madagascar in May to co-lead the second offering in 2007. Her central pedagogical interests involve engaging reluctant learners of science by demonstrating relevancy and also utilizing writing-to-learn methods to encourage student learning and reflection.

Aladar Horvath -- is a graduate student in the Mathematics Department at Michigan State University. He is currently in his second year in the Mathematics Education program. Aladar received a B.S. in Mathematics from Purdue University-West Lafayette. He has taught both courses in a series of math classes for perspective elementary teachers, Pre-calculus, Calculus, and Ordinary Differential Equations. His research interests are the teaching and learning of mathematics at the collegiate level.

Denise Lackey -- is a third year doctoral student in Human Nutrition at Michigan State University. She graduated with a B.S. in Nutritional Sciences and a minor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2004. While an undergraduate, Denise completed an honors thesis on the effects of vitamin A on cultured innate immune cells with Dr. A. Catharine Ross. As a graduate student, she still studies the effects of vitamin A on immune cells. For educational research, Denise is interested in developing critical thinking skills in health science students as well as improving nutrition curricula in medical schools.

Terri McElhinny -- is a PhD candidate in the Department of Zoology. A mammalogist, her research interests include the morphology, behavior, and evolution of mammals. Her dissertation research involves study of the morphological and genetic variation of a single species, the spotted hyena, across the continent of Africa. Her pedagogical research interests center on metacognition as it applies to complex problem solving; and the synthesis of patterns inherent in the study biological systems, where rote memorization is an ineffective means of learning the material.

Gabe Ording -- is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Entomology. His entomological research emphasis is on Population Genetics in Papilio butterflies and the Evolutionary processes involved in Hybrid Zone maintenance and Speciation. As an instructor for the Department of Entomology and the Center for Integrative Studies, Gabe coordinates the curriculum development for a new ISB lecture / lab course combination – Insects, Globalization, and Sustainability. Most recently Gabe has been involved with faculty from the other Integrative Studies Centers, in the development of a new Environmental Science Theme Track. His primary educational research interests lie in investigating the factors that impact long-term retention of knowledge.

Nils Peterson -- is a fourth year doctoral student in Fisheries and Wildlife at Michigan State University. His research and teaching interests focus on using systems theory and systems modeling to facilitate a productive fusion between the natural and social sciences.