Teaching & Mentoring

Plant Gas Exchange

UF in Kenya students learning to use a LiCor LI6400XT to measure photosynthesis and transpiration.

Big-headed ant searches with NEMA

Consultation with the Kenyan National Environmental Management Agency to identify big-headed ants at Ol Pejeta Conservancy

Basics of Gas Exchange Measurement

How do portable photosynthesis meters work?

Student Research Project

Field school students investigate leaf photosynthesis differences between ant-acacias occupied by Crematogaster mimosae and C. nigriceps, two closely related but behaviorally distinct species of ant mutualist!

Phew! Take a load off

Showcasing how to use the (stunningly portable) CIRAS-3 photosynthesis meter during the UF in Kenya 2022 field course.

Manyatta visit

Visiting a Maasai manyatta, where students learn about sustainable pastoralism in the semi-arid Laikipia Plateau.

Student Research Projects

UF students investigate plant leaf physiology changes in periodically burned black cotton savannas.

Prepping another course instrument!

Breaking out a leaf water stress meter from PMS Instruments in preparation for another Mpala field school in 2023!

teaching and mentoring at mpala research centre

Since 2014, I have served in various teaching assistant, co-instructor, and lead instructor roles on field courses at Mpala Research Centre.

I lead course modules that focus on leaf- and tree-level gas exchange — rates of photosynthesis and transpiration, underlying processes like dark respiration, enzyme kinetics, and photosystem electron transport rate. I use pre-existing infrastructure (UHURU, KLEE, the ant succession experiment supported by my NSF postdoctoral award) to demonstrate how herbivory, mutualism, and resource availability influence tree resource acquisition and allocation.

I also regularly mentor undergraduate scientists (see CV), and have produced one undergraduate-led peer-reviewed publication; advised various theses, posters, and presentations; and involved undergraduates in writing two peer-reviewed publications.

mentoring at University of Nevada, Reno

As a postdoc at UNR, I’ve been surrounded by fantastic students in the Pringle Lab. I was especially lucky to mentor two undergraduates in the UNR greenhouse.

Samantha Lebario, a NURA grant recipient and TRiO Scholar, recently presented her work at the UNR undergraduate research symposium!