Teaching
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I am currently a lecturer at UCLA with the Freshman Clusters program. As a grad student at UCLA, I also completed my Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy. As part of this, I was a teaching fellow with the Clusters program and Collegium of University Teaching Fellows, designing and teaching 5 writing-intensive courses as instructor of record (Astrobiology in Science Journalism x 2, Hands-On Exoplanet Astronomy, Astronomy in the City, and ENG 100W for UCLA's Academic Advancement Program Freshman Summer Program). I have also earned the highest certification (Scholar) of the CIRTL STAR program, which focuses on evidence-based pedagogy and teaching as research, and completed UCLA's Entering Mentoring Training.
I have also developed and taught TA Training workshops for UCLA's CAT (Center for Advancement of Teaching), and led the UCLA Physics and Astronomy department's TA training course for first year grad students (Physics 495) as well as the TA training course for the Clusters (EC 495M-N). Check out my CV for a full list of the courses I've taught. As a postdoc, I'm designing an asynchronous online course for graduate students and postdocs to improve their science writing skills — more info coming soon! I have also mentored multiple undergraduates, who have presented on their work at conferences and published their results. [Photos: (Top) ASTR 98TW class on a field trip to JPL, (Bottom) undergraduate Thomas McIntosh at AAS 2026] |
Public Outreach and Volunteering
Public Speaking
I've given numerous public talks, including for local amateur astronomy groups like the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit, and appeared on the news—such as CNN for the recent lunar eclipse!
UCLA Planetarium
As a graduate student at UCLA, I volunteered with Astronomy Live!, a program that brings science demonstrations, including a mobile planetarium, to underserved schools in the Los Angeles area. I also gave planetarium shows, with night sky tours and science talks, for the weekly general public shows and for private school groups. I also worked as a coordinator for the UCLA Planetarium.
One project I'm particularly proud of is designing accessible shows for the planetarium, including incorporating ASL interpretation and creating a show using tactile models and sonification to make the stars accessible to those without vision. I'm now continuing that work by designing new tactile models as part of my NSF AAPF grant's Broader Impacts work.
One project I'm particularly proud of is designing accessible shows for the planetarium, including incorporating ASL interpretation and creating a show using tactile models and sonification to make the stars accessible to those without vision. I'm now continuing that work by designing new tactile models as part of my NSF AAPF grant's Broader Impacts work.
Astrobites
In graduate school, I was a regular writer for Astrobites, which presents daily paper summaries meant to be accessible to undergraduates interested in science. You can check out all my articles here. I've also written many Beyond bites, covering accessibility and equity in astronomy, the dangers of reopening universities during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and how to use Twitter in your scientific career!
ComSciCon
After attending the 2019 ComSciCon flagship, I served on the 2020 Flagship Program Organizing Committee (and lead a workshop on using zines for science!) and organized the inaugural ComSciCon Los Angeles chapter in 2021.
Science Olympiad Coaching
When I was in high school, I loved competing in Science Olympiad, and it's how I started learning about astronomy. I currently give back by serving as a coach in the Astronomy (Division C) and Solar System (Division B) events for the teams at Canyon High School and El Rancho Middle School.
Other Outreach Efforts
I love taking part in outreach efforts where I get to directly interact with people - whether that's giving a public talk, writing letters to my Letters to a Pre-Scientist pen pal, talking to my family and friends about what my job is really like, or answering questions from a class through Skype a Scientist.