I am passionate about teaching biology to high school and college students. My students have explored various facets of vertebrate diversity through inquiry-based projects in laboratories and in the field, including:

• morphometric analyses of 21,000-year old saber-toothed cats

• identification of small-mammal bones accumulated by local owls 300 years ago

• survey of the habitats of living vertebrate species in the rolling hills of East San Francisco Bay area

• investigation of the formation of an iconic Ice-Age fossil assemblage at Natural Trap Cave in Wyoming.

Beyond classrooms, I have worked with my colleagues at the University of California Museum of Paleontology, Field Museum, and Des Moines University to communicate to the public the importance of natural history collections in biodiversity research and education.