"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
About Rachel
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.
Publications
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
Current Course Offering(s)
TBD for Spring 2019
Previous Course Offerings and Available Materials
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.
For students
my mentoring philosophy
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.
students can expect me:
- To take different learning styles, personalities, educational backgrounds, etc. into account and actively work on personalizing my mentoring style to best meet an individual's needs.
- To use inclusive teaching practices and to stay proactive about identifying and addressing my own biases.
- To foster their career aspirations. At the end of the day, each student wants to end up with the skills and education to land THE job.
- To reinforce their understanding of experimental design and statistics, as well as develop technical skills in data analysis.
I expect students:
- To let me know when they need help.
- To make time to meet for individualized attention.
- To engage in problem solving under my guidance, rather than expecting me to lay out the answer for them.
- To self-pace themselves--leaving room for feedback from me and other mentors.
student resources
For OSU students, here are some potentially helpful resources:
- Wanted course resources? Check out my teaching section.
- Interested in discovering your own implicit biases? Check out the quizzes by Project Implicit that Harvard created.
- For a safe, confidential space to talk about campus-related problems, consider contacting the Office of the Ombuds. To report an incident, contact the Student Conduct Office.
- Guides for students from the Office of Multicultural Affairs, & Student Disability Services.
