I was born and raised in the USA, in the Detroit area to be more specific. I completed my undergraduate studies at Wayne State University, with aspirations of being a medical doctor. When that did not materialize, I shifted to the research field, doing research on the repetitive DNA of pumpkin. Well, I thought, if my experiments didn't work out, I could still continue growing my plants and eat the resulting pumpkins. Despite that philosophy (or because of it?), I eventually did obtained my Ph.D. degree.
Post-doctoral work took me to Gainesville, FL, where, working for the USDA, I did research on caterpillars. I felt I was up to this challenge, despite these critters being much more ferocious than the pumpkin plants I was used to. I became so good at this type of research that I continued on gypsy moths at the University of Maryland, this time looking at the molecular events involved in eggshell formation. Even saying "I'm sorry" to the moths before I ripped out 800+ eggs from their bodies did not stop me from getting nightmares about the 'mother of them all gypsy moth' attacking me in the middle of the night. After several years of this research, I realized that being in charge of my own lab, doing research, teaching students, and trying to slice up the ever-dwindling supply of grant money to do research, was more of a challenge than I could handle. So, I took a year off of working and learned what I could about becoming a teacher. That was 17 years ago.
Learning and practicing (or doing) are two quite different things. After all these years of practicing, I'm still learning and applying new methods of teaching.
Post-doctoral work took me to Gainesville, FL, where, working for the USDA, I did research on caterpillars. I felt I was up to this challenge, despite these critters being much more ferocious than the pumpkin plants I was used to. I became so good at this type of research that I continued on gypsy moths at the University of Maryland, this time looking at the molecular events involved in eggshell formation. Even saying "I'm sorry" to the moths before I ripped out 800+ eggs from their bodies did not stop me from getting nightmares about the 'mother of them all gypsy moth' attacking me in the middle of the night. After several years of this research, I realized that being in charge of my own lab, doing research, teaching students, and trying to slice up the ever-dwindling supply of grant money to do research, was more of a challenge than I could handle. So, I took a year off of working and learned what I could about becoming a teacher. That was 17 years ago.
Learning and practicing (or doing) are two quite different things. After all these years of practicing, I'm still learning and applying new methods of teaching.