Home Institution: Mount Holyoke College
Research Project: Research-based Instructional Strategies for Teaching Physics
UW Mentor(s): Lillian McDermott, Paula Heron, Peter Shaffer

Q: What are your physics/science interests?
I am interested in discipline-based education research, specifically research on the teaching and learning of physics. Traditional lecture-based instruction is a remarkably poor way of teaching physics, and we have a long way to go in ensuring that physics classes are inclusive and that they help students build conceptual understanding. What particularly interests me is how students' visualization skills and mathematical fluency impact their learning in physics.

Q: What are your other interests?
In my spare time I enjoy running, cooking, and listening to music.

Q: What would you like to do after college?
Obtain a PhD. in Physics, with my research focusing on physics education.

Q: Tell us one strange but interesting fact about yourself.
I prefer standing to sitting. It helps me concentrate better.

Q: What first sparked your interest in Physics?
I had a great high school physics teacher. I thought I wasn't going to like physics, but I actually ended up doing really well in the class. With my teacher's encouragement, I decided to pursue further study of the subject.

Q: Which people (dead or alive) would you like to be in attendance at your last supper?
Yo Yo Ma, Joni Mitchell, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, and Ina Garten.

Q: If you had a free month and unlimited funds, how would you spend your time?
Cooking and baking all the recipes I've been wanting to try...and then having friends over to eat the results!

Q: If you could get a grant to study anything what would it be?
A question I repeatedly find myself asking is, how do students' visualization skills affect their learning in physics? Students need to know how to "see" the physical situations they learn about in their mechanics class, and they must be able to picture abstract phenomena as they advance in their coursework. Students must also be able to manipulate and interpret the image they create in their mind. I want to know if students with strong visualization skills self-select into physics, while those with weak skills are (inadvertently) weeded-out. Also, I want to devise curriculum and methods of addressing weak visualization in their mind. I want to know if students with strong visualization skills self-select into physics, while those with weak skills are (inadvertently) weeded-out. Also, I want to devise curriculum and methods of addressing weak visualization skills in the context of a physics class.