College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Community Sustainability

Advisor: Dan McCole and Bess Perry

I came to MSU with 15 years of experience in field biology, trip leading and cross-cultural communication and facilitation. I was fortunate to travel to over 80 countries and conducted conservation-related or guiding field work on all continents except Antarctica. My two most recent trips were to Japan and a re-visit to Iceland.

It is this personal history filled with awe-inspiring ‘wow’ moments and encounters outdoors that serves as constant ‘fuel’ to my teaching and research. I hold several MS degrees and am finishing my doctorate, yet I still enjoy learning non-stop. Ah, and I speak four languages fluently (while currently studying Arabic).

My time at MSU has always been divided between teaching and research. The biggest focus at the moment, aka my PhD dissertation, looks into lasting impacts of peak experiences in travel – those moments that made you say ‘wow!’ and that you remember to this day. I get to interview people across the globe and hear the amazing stories of their explorations and adventures (and their impacts) and… I can’t wait to share them with all of you.

Some highlights of my researcher work while at MSU include (co-authored) publications on COVID-19 messaging in state parks, on park design preferences by ORV users, a systematic literature review on park and recreation indicators and thresholds, and a professional report on community-based tourism in Puerto Rico.

Teaching-wise, this fall (2024) is my 9th semester teaching at MSU. Having been a tour guide before definitely helps, but I also learnt so much from my mentors and keep learning from the students. This year I get to teach an ‘Applications of Biological Sciences’ lab for non-science majors (ISB 208L) – which I see as both an opportunity to increase my science communication skills as well as students’ science literacy. Last summer I co-led one of MSU’s Study Abroad to South Africa and Mozambique – in Marine Ecology and Conservation. I am also a (very grateful) alumni of two of MSU Graduate School’s teaching cohort programs – FAST (Future Academic Scholar in Teaching) and IIT (Interdisciplinary Inquiry in Teaching).

Last but not least, I am honored to be the recipient of numerous awards and scholarships, most notably the MSU’s Academic Achievement Graduate Assistantship, the C.S. Mott Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award, the Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship, the George Wright Society’s Gary Everhardt Park Break Program fellowship, the Mouser Scholarship in Conservation and Environmental Education and the Sherman Scholarship in Recreation and Tourism Systems.