Teaching and mentorship
I have always loved teaching others about the wonders of science through my roles as a teaching assistant, guest lecturer, and mentor for undergraduate and junior graduate students!
Mentoring undergraduate project students
As a mentor, I train students in lab skills, data analysis, and scientific writing. With senior theses, I also help students develop either a poster presentation or a 12-minute conference-style talk. To date, I have mentored 10 independent student projects, 4 senior theses, and 2 NSERC USRA students.
Poster created by one of my former senior thesis students. This work is now published in Behavioural Ecology (Yan et al. 2024)
Teaching
As a Teaching Assistant, I have gained extensive experience with both large lecture-based courses and small hands-on lab courses. For example, I work closely with small student teams to carry out original experiments in McMaster's Animal Behaviour Lab Course. I have also delivered guest lectures at both McMaster University and the University of Toronto (see CV for full list of courses and guest lectures). ​
Science communication
As a volunteer for the Skype a Scientist, I am matched with teachers around to world to talk to their students about the wonders of insects, animal behaviour, and life as a scientist!​
A social learning experiment designed by students in the Animal Behaviour Lab Course. Here, fruit flies pick between cherry and orange flavoured food patches.