Philosophy
view the polarized perspective that professors are either excellent researchers or great teachers, but rarely both, to be unfortunate. For me, both research and teaching are rewarding, with each pursuit invigorating the other. Indeed, I am only a good teacher if I am impassioned about my research. And, exciting students about the world in which they live can only happen if I am excited about my research; my passion in the classroom and my ability to inspire students stays alive with my fieldwork. Hence, my goal as an academic is to achieve excellence in both realms and to impart in students the knowledge I have gained through my research and training: an understanding of the complexity of the natural world and of the relationships among anatomy, behavior, and ecology within an evolutionary context.
With my training and research interests in ecology, evolution, and biological anthropology, I am in the position to provide students with a perspective that crosscuts traditional disciplinary boundaries. In our increasingly complicated world, I find that inter-disciplinary training is particularly relevant, especially in the context of conservation biology. My teaching philosophy is geared toward involving students as much as possible in active reasoning, a critical perspective, and scientific rigor in an interdisciplinary and globalized world. Wherever possible, this involves giving students hands-on research experience, whether it is through laboratories based on behavioral observations, ecological measurements, or computer statistical analysis, or in the field, be it Africa, Latin America, or the diversity of habitats found in North America.