Samantha Levell Email & Phone Number

Sarasota, Florida, United States

At New College, I teach a wide variety of courses and tutorials to provide students with an array of experiential learning opportunities. I have taught Evolutionary Biology, Biological Data Analysis, and Aquarium science courses so far, and will be teaching fish-focused courses this spring. I emphasize experimental design, data analysis, and effective science communication in each of my classes.

Monmouth, Oregon, United States

I taught Ecology and Marine Ecology lectures and lab as well as non-majors biology courses. Mylab courses emphasized experiential learning and field-based projects for students to learn applicable field and lab/analysis skills.

Riverside, Ca

My dissertation focused on parent-offspring conflict in the livebearing fish family, Poeciliidae. In this family, a placenta-like organ has evolved independently at least nine times. In my dissertation, I examined the potential for reproductive barriers in placental (Heterandria formosa and Poeciliopsis prolifica) and non-placental (P. infans) poeciliid species. In addition to my research on these species, I also collaborated on projects in Trinidad on guppies and Rivulus, and intertidal projects on Anthopleura anemones.

Riverside, California, United States

Primary instructor for Evolution (Summer 2020) and Introduction to Ecology and Evolution (Summer 2021).

Tallahassee, Florida Area

• Lived with 32 other first-year WIMSE s and then became a floor mentor in the following year to help incoming WIMSE students transition into FSU and understand the research and scholarly opportunities available to them • Works for the Research Experience Program (REP) to fund undergraduate research• Aids with and creates science-related service events through SAC, including FSU Schools and Girl Scouts

Tallahassee, Florida Area

• Designed and completed an olfactory cues experiment with the least killifish, Heterandria formosa in the lab to measure the responses of fish when presented with the scent of their predators, as well as their varying activity levels by location correlating to predation rates• Designs and completes a crowding-based transgenerational maternal effects experiment with H. formosa to measure how crowding impacts growth rate, survival, and stress-hormone levels in populations of fish from historically low and high natural population densities • Clears and stains organisms in order to better understand morphology and the effect of location on morphological features of the same species

Tallahassee, Florida Area

• Performed microscope analysis of sponge skeletal elements and identification including drawing and measuring sponge spicules• Studied endosymbionts of sponges including amphipods and hydroids• Assisted with projects involving sponge predation by starfish

Mukilteo, Wa

• Designed and executed an experiment using forage fish in Puget Sound, WA using three-spine stickleback, sandlance, pacific herring, and shiner perch. Experiment was constructed as a choice experiment combined with social cues to study habitat selection in forage fish and how their behavior is linked to their response to shoreline hardening. • Collected, PIT tagged, tested and maintained forage fish throughout the course of the internship• Participated in 2-6 census trips monthly through Skagit Indian Tribe, Snohomish County, and NOAA NMFS. Censuses were completed using surface trawls and beach seines

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Ecology And Evolutionary Biology

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Biology/Biological Sciences, General

Activities and Societies: Women in Math, Science and Engineering (WIMSE), FSU Outdoor Pursuits, Intramural Sports CaptainI am working.