Helping make STEM fun and accessible to all students with engaging, hands-on digital learning experiences.

I help organizations expand the reach and impact of their STEM content, programs and expertise through customized solutions including curriculum design & evaluation, professional development training, and program development.

My passion is making science accessible to all learners. In my current role, I oversee design, curation and dissemination of high-quality digital science education resources by developing partnerships and managing co-development of innovative digital products. I provide strategic planning, expertise and guidance for multiple teams, improving knowledge and data transfer and increasing collaboration.

My interests center around project-based learning, curriculum development and interdisciplinary education. I collaborated with teachers within and outside the science department to create the daVinci Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics (STEAM) program. I also developed curricula for project-based biochemistry and chemistry courses for the STEAM program and assisted in designing a service learning capstone project to increase community engagement. I also developed a biotechnology curriculum that blends laboratory experience, synthetic biology principles and social and ethical considerations around newly emerging biotechnologies. For this course, I established partnerships with Harvard-Amgen, MIT BioBuilder, and Tufts Center for Translational Science Education for curriculum and lab supplies. I also designed a project involving leading a team of interdisciplinary science teachers in development of longitudinal skill maps for all core science courses.

Co-authored and storyboarded the video lesson “How Big is a Mole?” with a chemistry colleague from Newton South High School. The lesson presents a traditionally challenging topic in an innovative way by emphasizing estimation and visual analogies. Designed to be carried out with minimal supplies on any budget, this lesson has been used by educators in several countries.

Our lab is interested in understanding the mechanism of herpesvirus entry into host cells. My project involves determining the structure and function of proteins involved in regulating fusion of the viral envelope with the host cell membrane. Glycoprotein B (gB) is one of four viral proteins essential for virus-cell fusion to occur, and I am interested in determining the structure of its regulatory cytoplasmic domain. I am also conducting biophysical and biochemical analyses of the cytoplasmic domain in the context of membrane mimetics to understand the mechanism by which it directs the fusion process.

As a teaching assistant, I led small group, problem-solving sessions for both medical and medical masters students and organized and presented structured review sessions. I also taught laboratory techniques in a small group format to medical and dental students. In addition to teaching responsibilities, I created a microbiology lab on bacterial structure for the UMass Boston Pathway to PhD program.

I applied to this program to increase my understanding of science pedagogy. In this program, I participated in several online webinars designed to develop teaching skills for undergraduate education such as curriculum design, active learning, and how to involve undergraduates in research. I completed pre- and post-webinar assignments and developed a teaching philosophy portfolio.

I co-designed and taught lectures on cardiovascular health and obesity for Pathophysiology, while also designing and grading homework assignments and exams. I moderated online discussions of course material through the course forum.

Conducted Phase I environmental due diligence site assessments for industrial and commercial facilities at numerous locations throughout the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Additionally, assisted with technical litigation support involving document review and air sample collection.

Developed an online-coupled SPE-HPLC system for low level detection of new pesticides proposed for use in Europe in drinking water.

Applied photoacoustic spectroscopy to the study of electronic transition states in gaseous benzene. Additionally, explored energy transfer dynamics in a gaseous system using mercury excited to long-lived, metastable states .

Studied the production of excess heat by irradiated metal deuteride samples. Additionally, analyzed the effects of high temperatures on yttrium-doped ceramics used in a novel fuel cell design.