Photo: Maya Saar (Protaetia cuprea)
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. I was fortunate to co-teach in this unique class, that grants undergraduate students authentic experiences of research. Each semester this class and its main instructor, Dr. Anthony Auletta “migrates” through campus in search of a two-way gain; a project from a real-life laboratory that needs execution and that the project can give knowledge and experience back to the students; a project that can generate publishable results, and this time, it was my project. I asked the students how they could track the history of invasion of little fire ants (hereafter LFA) in Florida with genetic means? The chosen method was sequencing the full mitochondrial genomes of ants using next- generation technology, in the ancient range and the forefront range of their invasion. We expected to see changes in mutations between the ranges. At that point in time, I had collected LFA from 30 locations in FL, and the team and I already extracted DNA, amplified it, and sequenced the mitochondria of ants in each location, as preparation for class. The students were given the role of cleaning, analyzing, and presenting the data. To this end they needed to learn to code first. Other than this real-life experiment that students participated in, they learnt the introductory for science ethics, objectivity and bias, critical thinking, about international collaborations, and introduction on genome sequencing. I gave the introduction to invasion biology, invasive ants, and our model species. Given that the students had diverse backgrounds; biology and medicine majors, and any of the exact sciences, I had to keep it simple in my lectures, but in parallel give a wide background, compacted in three introductory classes. Other than giving lectures I contributed to the course:
- I led a discussion in class on an article related to the LFA invasion and genetic discoveries, such as its unique clonal reproductive system. - I prepared and managed interviews with ant researchers outside of USA. I used my personal connections; each group of students interviewed a different ant researcher and learnt on their research and their challenges with international collaborations. - I learnt to code and aided the students with cleaning and analyzing the data in “HiPerGator”, the University of Florida supercomputer with Linux commands. - The final task of the course was building a poster. Because every 3-4 students in a group analyzed genomes of ants from different locations in FL, and because each group found different and creative ways to solve coding problems, each group presented varied and interesting results. Finally, the Entomology Department was invited to a poster session, while students answered their questions. Because this was real data and analysis, the publication that results from this course will bear the names of all the undergraduate students that participated and worked hard in class. |
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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. 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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I have mentored or currently mentoring many 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 and schools. At a young 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.
