Gender equity in STEM academic professions

The NSF ADVANCE program is funding the Joining Forces Midwestern Partnership of four research-intensive institutions that aims to:

• Increase retention of under-represented women minority faculty and women with familial responsibilities
• Increase satisfaction of all women STEM faculty
• Advocacy for systemic change to advance gender equity in STEM at midwestern research institutions

Science Education Research

Over the years I have initiated, led, and conducted numerous research projects. The projects I am currently involved in are listed below.

• Evaluation of assessment instruments in introductory-level geoscience education
• Retention of first-year STEM students
• Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences for STEM students
• Game-based learning for sustainability education
• Gamification of large-enrollment introductory geoscience courses

Biostratigraphy and GeoInformatics

In the past I have been involved in research on speciation events of marine plankton and on the development of relational databases for Earth history research.