I promise to foster a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive lab and mentoring environment. I strive to facilitate the development of excellent scientists capable of critical independent scientific thinking. From my perspective, hallmarks of a well-rounded scientist include the ability to:

1) Identify a compelling and relevant question

2) Articulate and execute a testable hypothesis

3) Analyze, interpret, and visualize data

4) Synthesize data and communicate results in a clear, concise, and well-organized manner

I do not expect incoming lab members to be experts in these areas upon arrival but everybody should be committed to cultivating these skills – I will do everything in my power to help guide you. My approach is to provide a positive and supportive environment while engaging in open-ended and rigorous inquiry. The art of scientific discovery requires commitment, persistence, creativity and above all, curiosity! Research leads us into uncharted territory for which we sometimes have no framework to easily fit novel knowledge into which can be very difficult and mentally challenging. In these instances we must be able to construct new paradigms and be willing to accept that we may be wrong. By embracing rather than fearing the ambiguous line between what is known and unknown the journey hopefully becomes compelling, fun, and exciting!