Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation

Mammals with Headgear is a permanent exhibit in the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation the newest wing of the American Musem of Natural History. The exhibit features crania that I selected to demonstrate the differences between horns, antlers, ossicones, and pronghorns, the four types of cranial appendages found in living ruminants (cattle, deer, antelopes, giraffes, and their relatives). Text panels in the exhibit discuss my research on the evolutionary history of these structures. Touchscreen panels allow museum visitors to further explore my gene expression research and examine 3D models of specimens on display. These 3D models are interactive—visitors can rotate and enlarge them to see cranial appendages from multiple views.

Undergraduate Teaching and Research Mentorship

Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy

Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy (BIO 3010, Baruch College) is a dissection-based anatomy course in which students learn to identify and understand structures of the vertebrate body.

Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics (BIO 4280, Baruch College) focuses on large molecular biological datasets, including the methods behind collecting these data, the theory that underlies assembling and analyzing these data in a meaningful biological context, and the programming skills to deal with large datasets.

Honors Science and Technology in New York City

Honors Science and Technology in New York City (IDC 3002H, Baruch College) is an honors third-year seminar that covers STEM fields ranging from food science to geology, with special emphasis on how science happens in and around New York City.

Independent Study Research

Independent study research under my supervision (BIO 5000-5004, Baruch College) has covered topics in phylogenetics, geometric morphometrics, and bioinformatics. I have supervised 27 semester-long projects since 2018.

Fundamentals of Biology

Fundamentals of Biology (BIO 1016, Baruch College) is an introductory survey course for students not intending to major in Biology.

CUNY Undergraduate Research Celebration

Two students from my lab, Michelle Fridburg and Michael Bellido, presented their independent study research on water buffalo horn gene expression at the first-ever CUNY undergraduate research celebration. Their poster was one of just 10 selected from Baruch College for the conference. Michelle and Michael both are co-authors on the manuscript in preparation describing these results.