Biography

I have been teaching in the Biology Department at UVU since 2016. Previous to teaching at UVU, I worked as a Post-doctoral Researcher in the Department of Neuroscience at The University of New Mexico Health Science Center, which is a part of the UMN School of Medicine. While there, I researched fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. Before that, I worked at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Josephs Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ. While there, I researched the neurophysiological influence of ethanol on nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. I also had the opportunity to work at The University of Arizona College of Medicine, on the Phoenix campus, studying the influence of social defeat stress on the use of methamphetamines. As a graduate student, in the Neuroscience Center at Brigham Young University, I studied the effects of nicotine on specific populations of neurons in the Ventral Tegmental Area of the midbrain.

I am a neurophysiologist by training with an interest in drugs of abuse. Here at UVU, my research focuses on ethanol consumption, with drosophila as a model organism. The lab also studies the effects of neurological disease on learning and memory in these flies.

Courses I have taught at UVU include:
ZOOL 2420 Human Physiology
ZOOL 2425 Human Physiology Lab
ZOOL 1090 Introduction to Human Anatomy & Physiology
ZOOL 4780 Neuroscience
BIOL 1010 General Biology

Education:
PhD Neuroscience, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ, 2015
MS Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo UT, 2011
BS Behavioral Science, Utah Valley University, Orem UT, 2006

Teaching