Where I study

• I am currently in my second year pursuing my Ph.D. in astronomy at University of Texas (UT) Austin.
• I recently completed a B.S. in physics at University of North Carolina (UNC) Greensboro.
• I also have a B.A. in applied mathematics with a concentration in biochemistry from UNC Asheville.

Where I work

• During the summer of 2020, I worked at the University of Colorado Boulder developing an online astronomy curriculum for Fiske Planetarium and Partnerships for Informal Education in the Community after-school program.
• I previously worked as an adjunct instructor at Wake Tech Community College where I taught a pre-curriculum calculus course.
• One of my favorite roles was being a presenter and navigator for planetarium shows, and host the Science Stage, at UNC Chapel Hill’s Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.
• In 2018 I was a high school math teacher at Leesville Rd. High School in Raleigh, North Carolina, where I taught Honors Math II and III.
• I have been a teaching assistant for introductory astronomy and for human anatomy.
• I worked as an executive assistant at Triangle Kids Pediatric Dentistry. I specialized in community outreach and marketing.

What I research

• I conduct physics and astronomy education research.
• My most recent research as a graduate student at UT Austin has been designing and launching a world wide citizen science project called Dark Enery Explorers which classifies millions of galaxies from the Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX). As a part of HETDEX I am working to develop the largest map of the universe ever produced and uncover the mystery of Dark Energy through citizen science.
• Want to be a Dark Energy Explorer? Download the Zooniverse app now or click here to make an account!
• I recently presented the following posters:

  Power of the People: Fueling Big Data Astronmy using Citizen Science

  PERC, July 2021 — See the PDF

Also at UT Austin, I am a part of a team who is developing curriculum and a pre/post assessment tool to gauge the effectiveness of how climate change is taught at the university level across all disciplines.
• In summer 2019 I partook in a research experience for undergraduates program at University of Colorado Boulder. I performed a research study of my own design in which I created, piloted, evaluated, and compared two interactive activities (a lecture tutorial and whiteboard problems) for teaching stellar occultations to introductory astronomy students within the planetarium.
• My work from the summer was presented in this talk:

  Developing and Field Testing Interactive Planetarium Curriculum

  LIPS, August 2019

• I presented the following posters:

  Content within introductory astronomy can impact how students feel towards astronomy, themselves, and humanity.

  AAPT, July 2019 — See the PDF

  Can grandeur overcome insecurity? Seeking specific astronomy course experiences that can diminish stereotype threat and enhance students’ self-efficacy.

  AAS, January 2019 — See the PDF

For more, take a look at my full résumé.