Teaching
I teach LS30 Mathematics for Life Scientists, a large undergraduate calculus course for students in biology and the life sciences. Unlike some “calculus for life sciences” courses where there are very few genuine biological applications, the goal of LS30 is to use biological systems as the motivation to study mathematics. By focusing on modeling, we are able to establish strong and genuine connections between math and biology (e.g., what are the mechanisms that make levels of hormones such as insulin or estradiol continuously oscillate? How can a bacterium turn on or off the production of a protein? Why do spruce budworm outbreaks occur?).
The development and content of this course is described in greater detail in the article Teaching Dynamics to Biology Undergraduates: the UCLA Experience

Research
Broadly speaking, I am interested in understanding which teaching methods best support student learning and how to improve undergraduate mathematics education. I currently work on evaluating how one can implement interleaving in undergraduate mathematics courses and what is its impact on student learning (work supported by a National Science Foundation grant). I also explore how students understand the solutions of differential equations in terms of time series and trajectories.

Background
I am a mathematician who has been interested in teaching and implementing active learning methods for a long time. Before coming to UCLA, I worked as an Active Learning Lecturer at Cornell’s Math Department where I redesigned calculus courses.
At UCLA I am in the Division of Life Sciences and a member of the Psychology Department. A common question is what is a mathematician doing in a psychology department. The reason is that I was hired to teach LS30 and this course is offered by the Division of Life Sciences (and not the Division of Physical Sciences, which comprises the Math Department). It turns out that Psychology is in the Life Sciences Division and that there are several people in the department interested in learning and in particular learning mathematics/statistics. With my strong interest in undergraduate mathematics education and improving undergraduate mathematics instruction, it was thus a good fit.