Teaching

Tiffany has trained, mentored, and taught junior scientists throughout her career. She completed the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Science Teaching Fellowship and NIH "Scientists Teaching Science" course. She has taught students in-person as well as virtually, and supplements in-person classes with an online interface.

She currently teaches two courses she developed at the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences (FAES): (1) Molecular Microbiology and (2) Emerging Infectious Diseases. She previously served as an instructor for two sessions of ASM's Science Communication for Microbiologists, and during graduate school as an instructor in the team-taught Virology and Bacteriology courses for first-year graduate students. She employs active learning and uses backwards course design which places an emphasis on learning outcomes to guide assessments. She is grateful to former students and FAES faculty workshops in improving courses each year. She hopes to foster an inclusive environment by encouraging respectful discussion, introducing comprehensive viewpoints, historical accounts of events, and engaging the students in concepts that reflect the diverse nature of science.

Teaching philosophy: To create a learning environment that encourages students to think critically, ask and answer questions, and speak freely. The goal is for students to boost reasoning skills while improving science literacy and communication. These tools are vital for all different types of career paths and many aspects of life.

MENTORING

Along with teaching, Tiffany has trained and mentored junior scientists. She believes that part of being a leader in science is paving the way and providing resources for trainees to excel, especially for those from historically excluded groups in STEM. She has mentored several summer interns (in-person and virtually), one postbaccalaureate fellow, and currently mentors one fellow. She has connected with trainee researchers serving as a judge at ABRCMS, NIH Graduate Student, Postbac, and Summer Intern Poster Days. She received two NIH Summer Mentor Awards for projects she developed, including a remote bioinformatics project for a virtual summer intern in the NIH College Summer Opportunities to Advance Research (CSOAR) program, who continued the project for their honor's undergraduate thesis under her mentorship.