Outreach, Teaching,
& Projects
(Above) I hold Rosie, a 21-year-old Chilean rose-hair tarantula, at a UMD outreach event at Burtonsville Day.
(Left) I introduce a Cornell student to a Thai budwing stick insect (Phaenopharos khaoyaiensis), a species remarkable for its asexuality in captivity and defensive displays.
(Right) Here, I am introducing guests to the fascinating world of tarantulas at the 2019 Insectapalooza, an annual festival celebrating insects. In 2019, the Cornell Department of Entomology welcomed around 2,000 guests!
Extension and community outreach work combine my enjoyment of teaching, my interest in entomology, and my drive to change negative perceptions of insects! While I cannot realistically change the mind of every person that walks up to my booth, I can work to reduce the unfamiliarity that may be supporting their fears!
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Teaching
An out-of-focus
Ben Burgunder!
(Above) You can just make out a shock of orange hair and a sleeveless button-down in the background of this CALS Instagram post about how professors are adapting to the hybrid semester. I am very proud that all of the effort we put into social distancing and disinfecting allowed us to conduct an in-person lab for the entire semester!
Teaching a course, lab section, seminar, or even a weekly office hours session requires far more than mastery of the given subject matter. My primary goal as an educator is to demonstrate adaptability, approach education with thoughtfulness, and provide my students with applicable skills.
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I prioritize adaptability because of my experience serving as a teaching assistant throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. If educators cannot adapt to changing modes of instruction, student participation, or extenuating circumstances, their extensive knowledge base will not reach their students.
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Highly specialized medical entomology coursework can still provide a wide range of applicable skills by providing students with a foundation for further learning in fields like ecology, biology, and animal behavior as well as preparing them to be conscientious consumers of scientific literature.
Projects
Please enjoy these examples of projects I have produced over the last few years. These include an informational pamphlet on Chagas disease, a research poster, and my Cornell undergraduate honors thesis.​
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