Bio: I identify myself as an Iranian female biology college teacher and researcher. I am a passionate and critically reflective teacher, a strong advocate of student-centered and inclusive teaching with the hope to improve the quality of engagement, learning, and sense of belonging of undergraduate students in classrooms. In addition to instruction and course development, in the past few years, my research and activities have shifted from the area of Aquatic Ecology to Biology Education. I study the composition of student-selected lab groups and the impacts of pedagogy support on teaching cognition and practice of Graduate and Undergraduate Teaching Assistants in Introductory Biology classrooms.

Research: I study the composition of student-selected lab groups. More specifically I am interested in the following questions: 1. How does the demographic composition of student-formed groups differ from randomly formed groups? 2. Do students' attitudes towards group work vary by their demographics or demographic isolation they may face in groups?