Science Fun
Butterfly Balls
I develop the Butterfly Balls Initiative with my six-year-old daughter, Bella, to help restore pollinator habitats. We host free, hands-on seed ball workshops, providing all supplies at no cost. We've hosted events at local schools, for Girl Scout Troops, at the Granville Center for the Arts, and at One Love Bikeshop. Our next workshop will be at the Granville Public Library in Spring 2025.
At these family-friendly events, participants create Butterfly Balls—colorful, seed-packed spheres made of clay, compost, and water, designed to support pollinators. Each contains milkweed and other essential plants to sustain the insects that keep our ecosystem thriving. Participants take some home to plant, while others are shared with cyclists, students, and communities across Ohio and beyond.
In addition to assisting Bella with the workshops, I am the featured Entomologist, teaching guests about the fascinating world of insects and the critical role pollinators play in our environment.
Giving Community Garden
We established a permanent community garden outside the annex building at 119 W Broadway, where everyone is welcome to pick fresh herbs and veggies for free. At our planting event, volunteers filled the beds while I shared the benefits of praying mantises. Guests could even take one home to release in their gardens, promoting natural pest control.
Bikes to Art Parade
I represented the entomology community as a beekeeper and a decorated bees nest scooter in the Grinnell, Iowa and Granville, Ohio Bikes to Art Parade.
The Wonderful World of Insects
In both teaching and outreach I have presented various biological concepts to diverse students, from various age groups, cultures, and educational backgrounds. Early in my career I participated in a course offered at Cornell that focused on teaching the practice of outreach, wherein I gave a number of presentations to K-12 students and learned a lot about how best to adapt to my audience to communicate science effectively. Since then I have enjoyed creating lots of new and different opportunities to spread my love for biology. For example, during my tenure as a graduate student, I was a member of the organizational committee for the Department of Entomology’s annual insect fair, Insectapalooza. I played an important role in orchestrating this event, by creating custom posters, signage, maps, and exhibits. It’s these types of experiences that I encourage in my students, in order to promote education beyond the classroom.
Some recent outreach initiatives:
Insect Interviews
This self-funded website is the brain child of my husband and me. I wanted to create a website (www.insectinterviews.com) to introduce children to the wondrous world of insects in a way that was fun and engaging. By merging science and technology, my goal is to influence the next generation of scientists to study all the amazing ways insects shape our world.
Visit InsectInterviews.com
Science Cabaret
Insects mesmerize, mystify and horrify us. During this two hour talk I engaged the greater Ithaca community in the aspects of insect biology and behavior that makes them great inspiration for cinematic heroes and, more often, monstrous villains.
Naturalist Outreach Insect Sounds Video
As part of Cornell University’s Naturalist Outreach (http://blogs.cornell.edu/naturalistoutreach) I developed this video on insect sound in conjunction with Mariah Slone, Linda Rayor, the Ithaca College Media Lab, and NYS-4H. The purpose of this video is to introduce a wide audience to the fascinating world in insect sound and communication.