In the fall semester of 2015, I began teaching Restoration Ecology at Sonoma State University (SSU). In that semester, students focused on envisioning sustainable goals for Copeland Creek, its inhabitants, and its surrounding environs. In future semesters, we built upon this work, and were hosted on many fascinating field trips with local restoration professionals. These blog posts were written between 2015 and 2019 by Restoration Ecology students to share their experiences. They were originally posted to a separate blog, but after leaving SSU, I decided to integrate them into my science education blog here. Enjoy!

The global science platform iNaturalist recently started an Ambassador Program, and I'm pleased to announce that, as of September 2025, I’ve been accepted as part of their first cohort of ambassadors. iNaturalist is a community science platform where users can record and share observations of plants, fungi, and animals to contribute to biodiversity research. Through its website and mobile app, it allows people to identify species using community consensus and AI assistance, making it both a tool for learning about the natural world and a generator of valuable data for scientists.

For one of the first Vertebrate Biology field trips this year, I took my students to the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery, where we were given a fantastic tour by Ben and David. I first came to this hatchery in 2011, when I was a student in this same class (taught back then by Derek Girman). I remember being kind of bummed by the idea of visiting a fish hatchery - I thought it would be B O R I N G - but I ended up loving it so much!

I did a couple of very cool things today, and I thought I’d share one of them now: I attended an Advanced Sketching workshop by Rick Simonson, sponsored by the Guild of Natural Science Illustrators. (The other cool thing was the last session of the Botanical Drawing workshop, and I’ll post about that separately). This workshop was held over Zoom, and the focus was on making relatively quick sketches that contain all the necessary information to go back later and create a fully rendered illustration.

Just starting to get settled in to my new office at College of Marin . . . it's pretty bare at the moment (but won't be for long). I've got a gorgeous view, and - most important - the Kaiju are as happy as I am to be here!

This first week of the Fall semester at College of Marin is Flex Week, when we have the opportunity to do a wide variety of professional learning activities. One of the things I did today was the "Singing Bell Metal Casting Workshop." Yes, metal casting! This was the first time I've seen a foundry in action, and it was RIDICULOUSLY COOL!

I had a super fun time today doing something old, and something new! For the first time, I took some of my College of Marin students on an actual off-campus field trip, and we went to a place I have visited countless times before: Sonoma State's Fairfield Osborn Preserve. I offered this optional weekend trip to my Introduction to Biology students for extra credit, and it was a fantastic day!