When teaching abstract concepts in science I believe in the power and utility of metaphors, which can be useful in explaining unfamiliar concepts by visualization of more commonly known processes. For example, digestion in deposit-feeding polychaetes can be intuitively compared to laundry. While metaphors are effective verbal tools that help explaining concepts, I also believe in the power of still and moving images, which is made possible in modern classrooms. My personal experiences in courses that employed student discussion motivated me to use it in my own teaching. Vibrant discussions can be inspiring to students as they were to me, and I therefore use discussion in the classroom as a powerful student engagement method, which pushes students to synthesize the information acquired from lectures and readings. I strongly believe in the combination of theoretical deliberation and applied, hands-on student experiences such as field trips, which together encourage greater appreciation of the topic and promote learning. During graduate level courses, I invite student presentations in order to polish students’ public speaking skills. As written skills are critical in various jobs that students may seek in their future, writing assignments would serve as a great training for diverse future jobs. To gain a more nuanced understanding of the scientific process, students would mimic the peer-review process and review one another’s work before submitting a finalized paper. Additionally, writing assignments allow for the articulation of complex issues, exploration of multiple points of view, and analysis of conflicting or ambiguous data that are integral to the scientific process and difficult to fully capture in other types of student work. In undertaking these assignments, students not only gain content knowledge, but also have the opportunity to reflect upon the scientific process itself, gaining a deep understanding of scientific methodology. This understanding is vital not only for students who choose to pursue careers in science, but for all students as a foundation of their liberal-arts education and informed citizenship. My undergraduate and graduate teaching interests reflect my expanding educational and research background that spans disciplines related to freshwater and marine physical, chemical, and biological processes. I am particularly interested in connecting geochemistry, ecology, biology, bioaccumulation, chemical tracer applications, and modeling. Some of the topics I am interested in teaching could be taught jointly taught with other DMS faculty. Potential graduate level courses include: “Application of Radioactive Isotopes in Environmental Science”, “Marine Ecology & Bioaccumulation”, “Sources and Consequences of Marine Pollution”, “Research Planning, Data Analysis and Management”. I am also interested in teaching “Introduction to Oceanography”.