My major responsibility is to coordinate and co-teach Soils 101, the introductory soil course, with Dr. Rick Stehouwer. I work with a team of graduate student lab instructors and undergraduate teaching assistants to manage and teach the lab portion of the course. I am also the instructor for Soils 489 - Supervised Experience in College Teaching—the course for the undergraduate teaching assistants (UGTAs).
My recent research interest is studying the relationship between soils and societies; the effect that soils and other natural resources have had on the development of civilizations and societies throughout history and, conversely, the impact that these civilizations and societies have had on native soils and other natural resources. I am also interested in a broad range of pedagogic issues such as: achieving equitable learning experiences across numerous small sections of large lecture classes; effectiveness of weekly teaching team meetings on conformity and grade equity in large lecture, multiple section classes; the use of case studies in large, introductory level courses; and small group dynamics where diversity of group members (geographic, cultural, and major educational interest) is maximized.
Other research interests include: soil fertility, especially soil inorganic nitrogen with the focus on the dynamics and distribution of inorganic nitrogen under grazed pastures; the geologic and pedogenic processes as well as the chemical and physical processes of of coastal marshes and acid mine soils. Additional research has been in paleontology, especially marine invertebrates (bryozoans) from the Ordovician Period.
