Teaching & mentoring
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In Fall 2022, I co-instructed a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE; ENY 2890) in UF Entomology & Nematology Department. During class, students become part of a research team, collecting publishable data on phenomenons related to behavior, ecology, invasive species biology and more, using insect and nematode models. This fall, students sequenced the entire mitochondrial genome of populations of little fire ants in Florida, in order to help me identify their genetic lineages and how they might have spread in Florida through time. The students have the opportunity to be co-authors of manuscript with the goal of submitting it to a peer-reviewed scientific journal. This course bridges the classroom and the scientific laboratory. A primary goal of this course is to prepare students for advanced opportunities in science (see course overview on the left).
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During graduate school, I was a laboratory coordinator and teaching assistant in Insect Faunistics B (0455.3831), The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel-Aviv University. The course included preparing extensive laboratory engagement with different insects (live or museum specimens) and four excursions to different habitats throughout Israel in 6 days, to: Shoham, north Israel, south Israel and to the sand dunes. During these excursions we would identify and collect insects with students in the wild by day, and learn to pin them in the evenings to create personal genuine insect collections per student.
My own mentors were teaching this course; Dr. Dany Simon, the Late Dr. Amnon Freidberg & Dr. Netta Dorchin.
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I was invited to give a live guest webinar in BIO 323: Ecology for undergraduate students in Saint Mary's College, IN. Title: 'Behavioral Ecology and its greatest altruists; Social Insects'. This webinar was also open to the public.
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Overall, I have mentored or currently mentoring 10 undergraduate and graduate students. I encourage collaborative, creative, and also independent thinking, as we develop a research plan for each student. I mentored students through lab experiments and field work such as excavations of ant colonies and day & night field experiments. I also supervised and conveyed statistical analyses and final writing. I believe mentoring is a two-way gain, as I learnt so much from my mentees. For instance, some had the best ideas to solve problems in the field. As a result of these efforts, each of my past mentees was included in at least one published peer-reviewed article (please see my publications).
In the pictures: Field work with mentees & collaborators. |
Akiva Topper
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Tal Liber
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Aziz Subach
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Outreach
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I love to organize insect exhibitions in kindergartens. At their age, common social norms to fear insects are usually not well established. I therefore hurry to give the scientific and exciting perspectives to insects and how much humans rely or are affected by them in many cases, with hope to win the children's attention.
