Research
Current Research
The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY, 10458
2001-current: Integrated STEM education research in ecology and biology ▪ Intersection of outdoor STEM education and Nature Play in designed spaces ▪ Organic gardening as model for teacher STEM education
2008-current: Phenology of native forest trees, shrubs, and herbs ▪ Meta-analysis of citizen science data ▪ Incorporation of citizen science methods in environmental monitoring ▪ Citizen science as a method of authentic learning for elementary-aged children ▪ Use of computer simulations to model long-duration and large-scale changes
Doctoral Research
State University of New York, Binghamton, NY, 13905
Adviser: William E. Stein, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences
Plants ▪ Function and development of ancestral plant groups ▪ Developmental plant model to simulate the growth of early euphyllophyte plants ▪ Hypothetico-deductive testing of botanical concepts using computer simulations
1996 – 2005: Testing the Telome Concept: A Modeling Approach for Understanding the Growth of Early Vascular
Above: Living Psilotum nudum (far left); Recreation of Psilotum TELOME model (middle left); Intercalary growth using the model (click on image-middle right); Apical growth using the model (click on image-far right)
Masters Research
Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL 62901
Adviser: Lawrence C. Matten, Ph.D., Department of Plant Sciences
A survey and description of the fossil flora of the Catskill Mountains, New York ▪ A reexamination of fossilized stumps of Eospermatopteris with insights on anatomy and phylogeny
1993 - 1996: Re-Examination of Eospermatopteris eriana from the Upper Middle Devonian of New York
Undergraduate Research
John Carroll University, Cleveland, OH
Adviser: Jeffrey Johansen, Ph.D., Department of Biological Sciences
1989 - 1993: A Morphometric Analysis of Six Chaetoceros Strains from Inland Saline Lakes, with a description of Chaetoceros transisetus sp. nov. ▪ Survey of diatoms of inland saline lakes ▪ Description of a new species of diatom: Chaetoceros transisetus