Dr. Anderson’s research engages undergraduates in discovering how organisms, communities, and ecosystems respond to natural and anthropogenic change, often in aquatic systems. Recent research topics include freshwater mussel ecology and flood-irrigation landscapes for migratory birds. She also works in undergraduate education innovation, citizen science initiatives, and environmental career development. She completed her Ph.D. in Organismal Biology and Ecology at the University of Montana – Missoula in 2008. The University of Montana Western’s (UMW) mission of experiential education coupled with a block schedule allows Dr. Anderson to engage students in authentic research activities and contribute to national efforts to improve undergraduate science education. Her courses center on an undergraduate research and service model of students collaborating with natural resource professionals from government agencies, non-profits, and colleges. In 2008-2009 she participated in “Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education” workshops sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, aimed at stimulating nationwide education reform via student-centered active learning and research. Since 2011 her work has included Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) projects involving hundreds of faculty and students across the continent. A 2015 Summer Faculty Fellowship with the US Fish and Wildlife Service allowed her to learn from Service biologists while completing a campus conservation awareness project. Between 2016 – 2020 she has participated in numerous national science and math education networks, including several Quantitative Biology & Education Synthesis (QUBES) Faculty Mentoring Networks, a BIOME Institute, and the Research Coordination Network Incubator Next Generation Careers – Innovation in Environmental Biology.
Selected Publications
