I am a beginning naturalist and a professor of organismal biology/zoology at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS. I love that teaching my classes allows me to learn more about a diversity of taxonomic groups every day. I also love being able to share my enthusiasm for biodiversity with students who might not otherwise be exposed to anything aside from human biology.

In a former life, I was a systematic ichthyologist. I studied tetraodontiforms, acanthuroids, lampriforms, and myctophiforms. I also studied the joint that connects the teleost pectoral girdle to the back of the skull. I am not currently engaged in formal research, but I am working to develop some ideas for student research that is tractable at a teaching-oriented institution with little space/money/equipment for student research projects.

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