I received a Bachelor's in Medical Science and a Master's in Biological Science Education from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) where I worked as a teaching assistant and researcher. My graduate research transformed the landscape of the introductory biology lab curriculum at SIUE, now providing students with authentic research experiences in place of common "cookbook" exercises.

My objective remains to implement meaningful changes that improve the student learning experience. An educator should help students identify their academic strengths and weaknesses in a subject. Understanding course material is only the first hurdle. Students must be able to apply their knowledge to solve new and complex problems if the goal is to succeed on major course assessments such as quizzes and exams.

I am qualified to tutor in the biological sciences with my favorite subtopic being cellular biology. As a tutor, my philosophy is to recognize the foundational concepts necessary for a student to understand the more complex material, and to reinforce those weaker areas to ensure retention of later concepts. To gauge where a student's understanding of the material is, I may ask questions or for recent worksheet/quiz/exam results to aid us in pinpointing our current progress. If questions are answered erroneously, we can focus on those topics.

It is advantageous to answer questions incorrectly while studying instead of on a high-value test. We'll work together to reveal any inaccurate understandings.

Outside of academia, my favorite hobbies include playing and teaching chess, reading about the exciting history of scientific discovery, and creating interesting science lectures to present at local libraries.