The Lewis Lab

Adaptive Evolution & Ecological Change

Teaching

Teaching Philosophy
I firmly believe that learning is facilitated through active engagement and problem-solving. Courses can often devolve into lectures that disseminate facts while failing to teach students the core problem-solving and logic that helped researchers reach those conclusions. This does students a disservice, as creating hypotheses, designing tests, and interpreting data are vital skills that can serve students regardless of their chosen field. My goal as an instructor is not merely to teach students the subject’s concepts but to help them improve as scholars and critical thinkers.

Courses Taught

Biology 301: Ecology and Evolution
Concepts of evolution, populations, and population interactions; communities and ecosystems. Three lecture hours per week.

Prerequisites: BIOL 102 or MSCI 311.

Biology 399: Independent Study
A highly individualized course that provides students the opportunity to work on an independent research project in my lab. By conducting research in a lab setting, students will engage in scientific inquiry while learning a suite of experimental techniques fundamental to research in microbiology, evolution, and ecology. My goal is for students not only to learn how to think like scientists, but also to appreciate the dynamic, iterative, and sometimes very messy process of science!

If you are interested, you must contact me at the beginning of the semester prior to the one in which you plan to enroll in BIOL399.

Biology 599: Topics in Biology – Ethics, Science and Society
Current developments in biological sciences. Readings and research on selected topics. Course content varies and will be announced in the schedule of classes by title. This section will focus on the ethical issues that arise from the discoveries of science and technology, and on how we reason our way through them and attempt to deal with them. The course will start with the foundations of bioethics before moving into classic and then contemporary bioethical issues.

Courses Previously Taught (as lead)
Interdisciplinary Studies 385: Special Topics – Bioethical Issues of the 21st Century. Emory University. Spring 2022
Interdisciplinary Studies 205W: Science and the Nature of Evidence- Medical & Scientific Uncertainty. Emory University. Fall 2021
Bioethics 505: Graduate Special Topics- Thought Experiments in Bioethics. Emory University. Summer 2021