Research
I am part of the Impact Assessment for Action Competence (IMP>ACT) Project, which is funded through the European Union's Horizon Europe. I work primarily with the development of assessment instruments measuring student action competence. In my PhD project, I am interested in how action-oriented pedagogy can be used to decentre Western hegemony in Education for Sustainable Development.
Bio
I started my undergraduate studies as a forestry major at Stephen F. Austin State University (USA). After one deer browse study and a summer in the soils lab, I decided research wasn’t for me. I changed my major to the teacher certification track in biology and graduated in 2009. I then pursued a non-thesis Master’s degree in science education from the University of Southern Mississippi (USA). I spent the next nine years teaching secondary school science in various school districts throughout the state of Texas (USA).
In 2019, I transitioned into academic support services at the University of Texas at Austin (USA). While coordinating the Supplemental Instruction (SI) program, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Nina Telang to investigate the impact of SI on academic performance in introductory Electrical and Computer Engineering courses. I started to think – “maybe I do like this research thing.”
While at UT Austin, I also used my staff tuition reduction benefit to take classes in the College of Liberal Arts. Two classes in particular had a significant impact on my research trajectory: Dr. Ted Gordon’s “Power and Place in Making Texas History” and Dr. Jermani Ojeda-Ludena’s intensive Quechua course. In Dr. Gordon’s class, we explored the role of power in the creation (and silencing) of historical narratives. Dr. Ojeda-Ludena’s Quechua language course focused on grammar and syntax, but perhaps more importantly, we reflected on issues, such as language justice, rematriation of cultural artifacts, and disproportionate impact of climate change on runakuna.
In the summer of 2024, I made the move to Sweden (with my two dogs!) to pursue a PhD in biology didactics. I am part of the Impact Assessment for Action Competence (IMP>ACT) Project, which is funded through the European Union's Horizon Europe. I work primarily with the development of assessment instruments measuring student action competence. In my PhD project, I am interested in how action-oriented pedagogy can be used to decentre Western hegemony in Education for Sustainable Development.