RESEARCH: My research explores the way that evolution shapes information-gathering strategies in animals.  I use laboratory and field experiments (typically focusing on insect reproductive decisions) and comparative studies to answer questions like:

 

Why do some animals seem to learn quickly while others tend to be resistant to the effects of experience?

 

How do animals integrate the decisions of other animals with their own preferences when making choices?

 

How are animal decisions influenced by current physiological conditions, and how does this affect the inheritance of behavior?

 

 

TEACHING: I have taught courses in animal behavior, neuroscience and behavior, evolution, zoology, and introductory biology.  In all of these courses, my primary goal is to engage students with the active process of science.  In laboratory classes, my students engage in authentic inquiry by asking their own questions, and designing their own experiments.  In the classroom, my courses rely heavily on primary research articles and face-to-face discussions with the scientists who wrote them.