Diverse perspectives are critical for science. I am passionate about increasing access to scientific research experiences for young people from historically excluded backgrounds, and creating an inclusive scientific environment where scholars can thrive.
Below are some examples of my outreach experiences.
Fall 2023 I taught a semester-long neurobiology undergraduate course at Taconic Correctional Facility, a women’s prison in New York State, and fall 2024 I taught the same course at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, a maximum security men’s prison. This was in partnership with Hudson Link and the Columbia Center for Justice.
Dr. Shai Berman and I designed our course to require only paper, pens and ideas, as technology is not allowed in the classroom.
I am the Education Director for BLAST - Bio Labs for African Students and Teachers. Each year I travel to Ghana to run high school biology workshops with Dr. Nancy Sey and Dr. Fred Rubino. We teach the students how to extract their own DNA using soap, salt and ethanol, how to use pipettes, we conduct a DNA experiment on sickle cell anemia, and we donate a microscope to the school and teach them how to use it. We are hoping to expand the program to include additional countries in Africa.
We recently built a large octopus tank in the Education Lab of the Zuckerman Institute, where we house our resident octopus, “Ocho”. The tank serves as an educational resource for the local community and institute. We held an octopus party to celebrate Ocho’s arrival, and we welcome members of the community to help feed the octopus and learn about its remarkable biology.
I was a mentor in the 2016 Genes in Space competition held in the United Arab Emirates. My mentee, Alia Almansoori, won the top prize, and her experiment was sent to space!
Alia and I watched her experiment blast into space from this launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center on a Space X rocket!
We later published the findings of Alia’s study.
During my Ph.D., I created a special workshop for middle school students using zebrafish to learn about scientific research. The students donned lab attire, discussed scientist stereotypes, toured our zebrafish facility of 100,000 fish, set up mating tanks, drew zebrafish embryos under the microscope, and watched glowing blood cells zip around a transgenic zebrafish - all in the space of 1 hour!
We hosted many workshops over the years, including specially adapted workshops for children with autism spectrum disorder and children with deafness.