I teach several courses on quantitative methods and natural resource management decision-making at the undergraduate and graduate level. My approach to teaching is rooted in the belief that abstract and often challenging concepts, like statistics and decision analysis, become most meaningful when students can connect them to real problems they care about. I therefore prioritize hands-on learning through semester-long projects and recurring, applied examples that give students repeated opportunities to work with real data and current conservation challenges. I also design my courses so that complexity builds gradually, giving students the structure and support they need early on while helping them develop the confidence and independence to tackle difficult problems on their own.​

Data Analysis in Ecology and Management (BIOE 491)
Introductory statistics courses build an essential foundation of statistical concepts, but applying those concepts to the messy, real-world challenges of studying animals in the wild is a skill of its own. This course bridges that gap by taking the statistical concepts students have already encountered and bringing them to life through the kinds of questions they'll face in their careers as fish and wildlife scientists. Further, students reinforce their understanding by applying these concepts to real ecological datasets and developing R programming skills.

Introduction to Structured Decision Making (BIOE 591)
Making decisions is a required part of managing natural resources, yet a perfect decision rarely exists. Natural resource managers are often tasked with making decisions with imperfect information, diverse and sometimes conflicting objectives, and limited resources. This course offers an introduction to the theory, psychology, and process of making complex decisions in natural resource management using Structured Decision Making (SDM). It covers topics including value-orientated thinking, the PrOACT method, and a variety of decision-support tools that help facilitate the decision-making process. It also emphasizes the application of these methods and concepts through case studies and hands-on activities using current conservation challenges. 

Fish & Wildlife Capstone (WILD 401)
The capstone course in Fish and Wildlife Ecology and Management focused on providing an opportunity to integrate the knowledge gained throughout the undergraduate program by experiencing the dual processes of research and the science of decision-making in the context of natural resource management. ​