Postdoctoral Researcher

My life story begins when my parents met in prison. Don’t worry though: they both worked there! My father was a warden for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and, because of his job, I’ve always had a unique perspective on human behavior. My desire to understand people led me to study psychology. During my Ph.D. education, I also had several wonderful opportunities to teach undergraduates, and I discovered a true passion for finding ways to improve higher education. In fact, I found myself looking for an opportunity to shift into conducting educational research full time, which is what led me to the RE3ACH lab. As one of Lisa's postdocs, I'm a part of FLAMEnet—the Factor influence Learning, Attitudes, and Mindsets in Education network. As a group, we bring together STEM instructors, psychologists, and education researchers from diverse institutions to investigate the noncognitive factors (those things not related to intelligence or the content itself) that improve instructor and student outcomes in undergraduate education. I am particular interested in how college STEM students define “success” and “failure” in academic contexts and in how their responses to challenges and failures influences their academic outcomes. You can learn more about this and other research projects on my personal website here. In my free time, I pursue a wide range of geeky interests. I love Jane Austen, sci-fi/fantasy, board games, and I play handbells. My favorite obsession hobby is rounding up my wonderful friends to play escape rooms. (My record for escapes is currently 28-4!)

I was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario, where I earned my B.Sc. with Honors in Biology, minoring in Environmental Studies at York University. At the end of my undergrad, considering a career as a conservation manager of some sort, I sought out my M.Sc. with Dr. Sapna Sharma, examining the impacts of projected climate change on the distributions of cisco, an important forage prey fish. Though becoming an ecological modeler was a lot of fun, I found my passion for education research, mentoring, and working with teachers and students. Two weeks after defending my M.Sc., I packed up and moved south to work on my doctorate with Dr. Beth Schussler in science education research, investigating teaching anxiety, research anxiety, and coping in Biology Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs). Currently, I work as a postdoctoral research associate with Dr. Lisa Corwin at the University of Colorado, Boulder, investigating the barriers faced and supports needed for community college faculty to pursue educational research. I am also an emerging independent consultant, where I am building a business to evaluate STEM programs for graduate and undergraduate students. Outside the lab, you can find Miranda volunteering with her church community, trying out new international recipes, or trying to keep up with her ever-moving toddler.

Graduate Student

With a background in environmental social science and communication, I am passionate about local practices and teaching that inspires collaborative environmental action and connects diverse stakeholders at individual, local and regional scales. I have had 3+ years of experience in environmental science and biology education data management, where I conducted and converted qualitative interviews and open responses into quantitative measures and analysis. I have had 10 years of communication, outreach and teaching in environmental science, ecology and the arts, spanning ages 2 to 70 years old. Currently I an Environmental Social Science Consultant at the Nature Conservancy, an Adjunct Faculty at CU for the Learning Assistant Program, and the Research and Outreach Coordinator for the Center for Sustainable Landscapes and Communities out of CU Boulder.

Postdoctoral Researcher

With a background in molecular cell biology and biology education research, I am particularly interested in promoting evidence-based educational strategies that help students persist in their STEM studies and careers. As a first-generation college student from a low-income household, I hope to make education more inclusive and equitable. My ultimate goal is for my life’s work to contribute to the creation of a more knowledgeable, thoughtful, and diverse population of students that can move our society toward a better future. Currently, I am the Director of Content for Codon Learning, an education technology startup. We are developing a STEM courseware platform that aims to scale inclusive, evidence-based teaching practices. In this role I apply what I have learned from my personal experiences and my studies of biology and education to ensure that research-backed approaches, equity, and inclusion are at the forefront of the platform we design and content we create.