Profile
Educational Background
B.S., Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Clemson University, 2004
Ph.D., Biology, University of South Carolina, 2015
Profile/About Me
I have been involved with teaching undergraduates and mentoring graduate students in teaching science for over twelve years. I particularly enjoy teaching courses that deal with Physiology and Behavior. I initially began training graduate students to teach the Introductory Biology Laboratory at the University of South Carolina, but was quickly promoted to lecture in Ecology and Evolution, including Honors sections. I was eventually offered the position of teaching Advanced Human Physiology, a course I love, for nine years.
In 2025, I was absolutely thrilled to be hired at Clemson University to teach Human Physiology as well as mentor the graduate students teaching the associated lab. I am incredibly delighted to have returned with my family to my alma mater - Go Tigers!
Research Interests
I study social interactions and social networking in groups of captive animals such as flamingos, penguins, and horses, among others. The goal of the study varies with the groups of animals. Within the flamingo flock, I am interested in social networks within a captive species including things like dominance hierarchy. I expanded to a multispecies approach with the colony of penguins as there are three penguin species cohabitating in the same exhibit. The horse herd consists of several horse pairs that drive carts together so the interest here is whether this imposed network of the driving pairs has any effect on their social network when not driving in the field.
Courses Taught
BIOL 3160: Human Physiology
