STEM Outreach and Education

Training workshops

2024: Tutor, Complexity 72h , an interdisciplinary workshop for young researchers in complex systems, Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain. Led and mentored a team of five graduate students in carrying out a research project within 3 days (i.e., 72h). Project title: “Impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on mobility networks and the spread of endemic respiratory viruses”

2018-2019: Co-instructor, Fogarty International Center training workshops on infectious disease quantitative analysis methods, including time-series modeling, epidemiological modeling, and phylogenetic analysis.

Science outreach and advocacy

2019-2021: Member, NIH Science Policy Discussion Group , Bethesda, MD. NIH SPDG is a biweekly seminar series for early-career scientists focused on the intersection of scientific research and legislative policy.

2018: Selected speaker, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Classroom Science Days , Austin, TX. I gave an outreach lecture (“Meet the Lemurs”) to middle school students.

2016: Public outreach lecture on lemur ecology, evolutionary history, and conservation efforts , Science Under the Stars, Austin, TX.

2011-2018: Co-host, They Blinded Me With Science on KVRX 91.7 FM (UT-Austin’s student-run radio station). TBMWS was a weekly educational talk show that interviewed UT-based and visiting researchers and reviewed science publications and news.

2011-2017: Volunteer and co-organizer, Science Under the Stars , Austin, TX. SUTS is a free, monthly public outreach lecture series founded and organized by graduate students in the Department of Integrative Biology at UT-Austin.

Science writing

In 2020 and 2021, I wrote essays for the NIH Science Policy Discussion Group’s blog Science Policy for All about COVID-19 vaccine mandates and the role of COVID-19 forecasting models in policy decisions .

In 2016, I wrote about my field research experiences for NSF BEACON’s “Researchers at Work” blog series.