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Teaching Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
I strive to become an instructor at a Primary Undergraduate Institution. As a teacher, I believe that it is my responsibility not only to teach students course material, but also to provide an environment that emphasizes equity and justice to both break down barriers to science and help students grow as individuals. As an instructor at the University of California- Riverside, Irvine Valley College, and Gonzaga University, I have learned that students, who all enter the classroom with multiple intersecting racial, gender, and other identities, thrive in environments where they are respected and trusted. Therefore, I ensure that students gain a deep understanding of the course material by helping them cultivate a growth mindset, developing opportunities for hands-on engagement with science, and creating an inclusive and supportive classroom. Further, I emphasize mentorship outside of the classroom to reduce barriers to science
The summer 2025 Bancroft lab celebrates a successful field season!
Visiting high school students help Annika collect practice pollinator specimens at the Niwot Ridge LTER
Annika trains UCR undergraduate assistants Justin and Emily to pin insects
Teaching Experience
As Instructor of Record
Biol 106 – Energy Flow in Biological Systems, Gonzaga University, Fall 2025
Biol 399 – Climate Change and Species Interactions, Gonzaga University, Fall 2024
Bio 80 – Integrated Biology: Organisms to Ecosystems, Irvine Valley College, Fall 2023
Biol 116 — Ecology and Conservation Biology, UCR, Summer 2022 & 2023
Biol 005C — Introductory Evolution and Ecology, UCR, Spring 2023
As Teaching Assistant
Biol 005C — Introduction to Ecology and Evolution, UCR; Fall 2019, Winter 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021 & 2022, Winter 2023
Biol 116 — Ecology and Conservation Biology, UCR, Fall 2021 & 2022
Biol 165 — Restoration Ecology, UCR, Winter 2022
Biol 005B — Introduction to Organismal Biology, UCR, Spring 2020
As Invited Guest Lecturer
Plant-pollinator interactions under global change; Plant-Animal Interactions Course, Kalamazoo College, Virtual, Feb 2025
Plant-Pollinator Interactions in a Changing World; Scientific Inquiry Course, Gonzaga University, Mar 2024
Plant-Pollinator Interactions; Integrated Biology, Irvine Valley College, Apr 2023
Density, Dispersion, and Demographics; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Course, UCR, Apr 2021 & 2022
Conservation Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Course, UCR, June 2021
Mentoring
In the Bancroft lab at Gonzaga University, I have the privilege of mentoring several undergraduate students each semester during the school year and over the summer. I am also fortunate to be a mentor to the undergraduate students in Gonzaga's SACNAS (Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science Society) chapter.
I am currently mentoring undergraduate student Mahnur Bharucha, who will completed a capstone project on the effects of drought on Phacelia campanularia pollen viability and mass. We are currently working toward publishing this work. At UC Riverside, I also closely mentored undergraduate student Kim-Emerson Sevilla, who completed a project on the effects of drought on Phacelia campanularia nectar sodium content. Kim won the UCR Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant to support this work! Congratulations, Kim.
I have trained, mentored, and wrote letters of recommendation for 13 other undergraduate students at UCR who have assisted in projects in the Rafferty lab both remotely and in person.
Caryn Iwanaga, an assistant and then intern of the Rafferty lab, admires a bristlecone pine snag during a field excursion to the White Mountains
Restoration Ecology students sample plant diversity at an on-campus restoration and research site.
Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs)
Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs)
I have had the opportunity to help create four CUREs to support student learning in biology and ecology courses. In these CUREs, I strive to use local habitats to connect students with the ecosystems that surround them and to make the course material more relatable to students.
Plankton diversity in an on-campus lake.
Students collect plankton in an on-campus lake, identify these plankton, and create a “Plankto-report” in which they explore the phylogeny as well as the structure and function of the organisms. 3-lab learning module developed for Biol 205: Physiology & Biodiversity in collaboration with lab coordinator Brian Connolly at Gonzaga University (GU). Fall 2024.
Seasonal changes in biodiversity across permanent and temporary ponds.
Field surveys used to collect community composition of plankton, macroinvertebrates, and vertebrates in ponds with distinct hydroperiods. Main lab component for Biol 404: Freshwater Biology, and ongoing research project in Bancroft lab (see reference in Completed Research section above). Developed mainly by lab principal investigator Betsy Bancroft with assistance from Annika Rose-Person at GU. Spring 2024.
Pollinator visitation to native and non-native plants by native and non-native insects.
Students performed observations of flowering plants and visiting pollinating insects at Irvine Valley College (IVC), then examined their data and compared the functional traits of native and nonnative plants and pollinators. Standalone lab for Bio 80: Integrated Biology developed in collaboration with biology instructor Devon Bradley at IVC. Spring 2023.
The effect of thatch removal by raking on native plant diversity in a Coastal Sage Scrub ecosystem.
Students collected plant community composition data in experimental plots on campus (see Ramachandran et al. 2024), then analyzed their data using the coding language R to explore patterns of diversity under thatch removal treatments. Standalone lab for Biol 165: Restoration Ecology developed in collaboration with Loralee Larios at the University of California, Riverside. Winter 2022.
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