About

I build communities of learning, empathy, and problem-solving!

I'm a high school science teacher who learns with from and with AP Biology and introductory science students at Bloomington High School South in Bloomington, IN, where I live with my spouse and two children.  

My family weathered emotional and financial instability while I was growing up, and I experienced first-hand the way school can be a refuge for students. 

In my teaching practice, I am committed to:

• engaging students in authentic scientific and personal practices,

• collaborating with students and community members to create humane, community-oriented spaces and opportunities (especially co-constructing social infrastructure!), and

• supporting and making public the work of teaching and learning.

I've taught AP Biology, biotechnology, Earth and space science, and on-level biology. I'm a National Board Certified Teacher, a Presidential Awardee (PAEMST) (archived site), a Leonore Annenberg Teaching Fellow with the Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly the WW Foundation), a Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellow, a Carnegie Foundation Educator Advisory Panel alum, and a Senior Fellow at the Knowles Teacher Initiative, where I served for five years as an editor-in-chief at Kaleidoscope: Educator Voices and Perspectives. 

I love STEM innovation coaching and serve as lead mentor for our school's national-award-winning Samsung Solve for Tomorrow and state-ranked Science Olympiad teams.

I'm also a proud member of our local and state National Education Association affiliate, and I chaired the Earth and space science committee during the Indiana Department of Education's Indiana Academic Standards Science revisions.

In addition to full-time teaching, I am a design consultant for the College Board's AP Biology program and am active in the alumni networks of the MacArthur Foundation/TERC Climate and Equity Institute and Knowles. I am also honored to be the 2025 President of the National Association of Biology Teachers! 

I am the co-editor of SOCIAL ACTION STORIES, a work/book of high-impact storytelling for classroom and community, and PLACE-BASED SCIENCE TEACHING, forthcoming from Corwin Press and co-authored with the amazing Whitney Aragaki.

I hold a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford (before which I did a Fulbright in Denmark) and a master's degree in teaching from the Stanford Teacher Education Program. 

Besides classroom teaching, I speak and facilitate professional development nationally on educational topics including scientific argumentation, student-centered active learning in science, teaching science for justice, environmental and climate education, inclusive biology curriculum, the Next Generation Science Standards, education technology, AP Biology, Earth and space science, on-level biology, project-based learning (PBL), modeling instruction, and writing workshops. I've recently presented or mentored at NABT, NSTA, ISTE+ASCD, and SXSW EDU, in addition to more specialized convenings. I also co-author and edit stories, curriculum, and peer-reviewed articles; see more information below.

Closer to home, I help to facilitate and coordinate curriculum for workshops where teachers from across the country learn more about educating for environmental change from scientists and educators at Indiana University's flagship campus.

Outside education, my interests include parenting and partnering, vegan food, animal representations in art and their ability to spark aesthetic force, running slowly with great enthusiasm, all-ages taekwondo, inexpert piano playing, and reading recent fiction and non-fiction. I am also a Girl Scout troop leader of an amazing multi-level troop and volunteer as a Girl Scout service unit co-manager.

Contact me at the email address on my resume below. I'd love to get in touch!