Individuality is a fundamental feature of animal behavior and represents a potent substrate that evolutionary pressures can act upon. Such idiosyncrasy in behavior exists across scales: within a single animal from moment-to-moment, across animals responding to an identical stimulus, or in response to complex and changing environments. Individuality within insect behavior is also important to understand within the context of global health.

Animals are constantly faced with decisions about what to eat, where to live, and whom to mate with. While most models of decision making assume that individuals assign absolute values to options encountered, animals often assess value relative to other options available or to options recently encountered. Such decisions can be complex, often requiring individuals to compare multiple features associated with each option and their reward payoffs. Such decisions can also produce different outcomes depending on the context of the choice.

Leigh West | Abrahms Lab
"Climate impacts on large carnivore spatial ecology and community interactions"

Andy Hempton | Imaizumi Lab
"Exploring the Role of FLP1 as a Far-Red Light Induced Systemic Developmental Signal in Arabidopsis"
Natalia Guayazan Palacios | Steinbrenner Lab
"Plant immune receptors for healthier crops: Restoring caterpillar sensing in legumes"

Jack Litle | Carrington Lab
"Using Embryonic Thermotolerance to Assess 'Tuning' of Reproductive Timing"

For many students, stepping into an undergraduate science classroom can be intimidating. Students face many barriers to success, including weaknesses in their educational backgrounds, mental and physical health issues, and outside demands on their time. As faculty, we walk beside our students through these challenges and work to inspire them to feel invested in their learning. In this talk, I will describe several strategies that I have used to create engaging classroom environments.

In the era of standardized testing, it is all too easy to lose the curiosity and love of learning that drove us as young learners, and switch to an extrinsic motivation mindset, learning just enough to get the desired grade. I hypothesize that by designing assignments and modules which value creativity and curiosity, and have the right balance of challenge, autonomy, purpose, and community building, we can help our students rekindle their intrinsic motivation and love of science and guide them into becoming lifelong learners.

As scientists, we find motivating questions, we collaborate with colleagues, and we engage with peer-reviewed studies to guide our research. As teachers, we should do the same to guide our teaching. In this talk, I'll explain (a) what my teaching goals are, (b) how my practice is guided by pedagogical studies, (c) how I contribute to pedagogical research, and (d) future goals for undergraduate education at UW Biology.

Join us for our Winter 2023 Bio Grad Seminar Series! This February, Hannah McConnell (Di Stilio Lab), Benjamin Downing (Nemhauser Lab), and Sophia Jannetty (Bagheri Lab) will be presenting their research reports. Hosted by Fiona Boardman.

Plant nutrient metabolism is regulated through a variety of biological processes, many of which are controlled and coordinated by internal factors such as cell type and developmental stage as well as external factors such as soil quality and other environmental conditions. My research focuses on investigating the genetic and molecular underpinnings of developmental and physiological processes that have been altered to allow plants to tolerate challenging nutrient environments.