"Like most mathematicians, he takes the hopeful biologist to the edge of the pond, points out that a good swim will help his work, and then pushes him in and leaves him to drown."-charles elton
Aquatic Research Pond, July 2015
Aquatic Research Pond, July 2015
I am currently a CAS Diversity Post Doctoral Fellow in the Integrative Biology Department of Oklahoma State University. I received a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology under the direction of Dr. Lawrence J. Weider at the University of Oklahoma. As concisely as possible, my working thesis involves using theory and experimentation to better understand how population structure influences community properties and stability. I am using Daphnia as a model organism, linking their life-history traits to communities through size-distributions. In other words, I get excited over equations and graphs, while trying to keep myself grounded in real systems.
Patten, M.A. and R. N. Hartnett. 2014. Residual variance is no cause for alarm. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 12:545-546. pdf
TBD for Spring 2019
Introduction to Quantitative Biology, OU. Textbook resources can be found here.
Concepts in Biology, OU. Current information by Mariëlle Hoefnagels can be found here.
Limnology and Oceanography, UT Austin.
Introduction to Genetics II, UT Austin.
I firmly believe that good mentoring takes empathy as well as objectivity. My main goals in mentoring students are to 1) assess and adjust to student needs, 2) provide information and resources to achieve learning goals, and 3) support individual students to help them get to where they want to go. Strong mentorship led to my choice to have a career in STEM, and their modeling as professionals and people was instrumental for me. I hope I can provide similar opportunities for others.
For OSU students, here are some potentially helpful resources: