Teaching and Mentoring

PEDAGOGICAL TRAINING

Katie is excited by innovation at the interface of teaching and research, and she has pursued several teaching opportunities beyond the required teaching assistantships. Specifically, she has completed Duke's Certificate in College Teaching Program (CCT) and served as a Curriculum Developer for Duke's Scientific Advancement through Group Engagement (SAGE) program. For the 2020–2021 academic year, Katie served as a Bass Instructional Fellow and worked with Prof. Amanda Hargrove to develop and implement a Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience course for first-year students. She was also selected for the competitive Preparing Future Faculty program as part of the 2020–2021 co-hort. Finally, she will serve as Instructor of Record for "Molecules of Life", an enrichment course offered to high school students through the Duke Pre-College program. In addition to these formal training opportunities, Katie has mentored three undergraduates in the McCafferty lab through independent study and completion of Honors research for graduation with distinction. 

Katie aims to incorporate inclusive teaching practices with intentional mentoring into her future independent research program. She has sought training in inclusive mentoring and managing at UCSF. Through this program, she was connected with the City College of San Francisco (CCSF; community college) Biotechnology program. Katie hosted two interns from CCSF for semester long internships as part of their career-readiness training.

Katie's teaching and diversity statements, prepared as part of her training in the CCT program, are available below:

INSTRUCTOR OF RECORD, DUKE PRE-COLLEGE SUMMER PROGRAM

Between completion of her Ph.D. and start of her postdoctoral training at UCSF, Katie is developing and teaching a course called "Molecules of Life" for the Duke Pre-College program. Through this program, which provides enrichment courses to high school students and introduces the students to the academic climate at Duke, Katie will work to reinforce core chemical concepts by integrating core concepts with application-based "case studies" focused on drug discovery, environmental chemistry, and everyday chemistry. Katie is responsible for the conceptualization, preparation, and instruction of all course materials. Materials for this course can be previewed here.

COURSE-BASED UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE (CURE)

Through her Bass Instructional Fellowship, Katie worked with Prof. Amanda Hargrove to convert an upper-level multi-week lab into a first-year seminar course based on the CURE model. To this end, Katie has been involved in the design of the course and adaptation and expansion of content for first-year students. The course focused on discovering patterns in RNA targeting with small molecules and was taught in Spring 2021. Katie served as the TA for the semester. More information on the course can be found here. 

SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENT THROUGH GROUP ENGAGEMENT (SAGE)

The SAGE program at Duke is offered through the Academic Resource Center (ARC) and aims to promote success and resilience in STEM through peer-facilitated learning communities. Katie served as a Curriculum Developer for SAGE learning communities for Organic Chemistry. To this end, Katie worked to develop supplemental content that complemented material provided in lecture but emphasized group engagement for reinforcement of core concepts and trends in Organic Chemistry. While Katie's role was focused on content development, she was also able to work closely with the ARC staff and peer educators, providing exposure to pedagogical practices that drive the SAGE program. 

MENTORING

Katie has mentored three undergraduates during her time in the McCafferty lab. Through this role, she has assisted her mentees in the design and execution of experiments and in the analysis and communication of subsequent results. All of her mentees have completed independent study projects and have or will graduate with distinction, an accolade which requires completion of an Honors Thesis. Further, all three mentees have contributed to publications and are listed a co-authors on accepted papers or manuscripts that are in preparation. Mentoring these students has been a highlight of Katie's graduate career, and she is excited to see where her mentees go next in their academic pursuits.