Teaching in Perspective

Teaching is an integral part of research, since it demands synthesis and expanding of ideas. I try to learn continuously through research and discussions with thoughtful people—practitioners, students, and scientists.  And, I continuously integrate what I have learned into my teaching. I have sought to maintain teaching experiences on many levels.  I have taught in the classroom, laboratory, and field to graduate and mid career students, in large and small classes and to native- and non-native-English speaking students (Link: See

Running a course—be it undergraduate, graduate, or mid-career--is more than lecturing. Running a course requires coordinating the learning, the timing of subjects, and the field trips and exercises to make a complete learning experience.

My teaching interests are synergistic with my research interests.  I have tried to integrate many sciences to avoid the historical trend toward academic specialization.  My teaching concentrates on giving students the basic knowledge, the skills to enable them to update this knowledge as a lifelong process, and the leadership skills to apply this knowledge. More important than just giving students “facts” and “techniques” is to give students a “way of thinking” relative to a given subject, so they can continue learning long after the course is finished.  Consequently, I find students gain as much out of my courses as the efforts they put into them.