TEACHING
I have diverse teaching experience at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and in lecture, seminar and online settings. The slide show below provides a brief overviews for a selection of classes I have developed in recent years.
I routinely turned to scaffolded assignments that build up over the course of the semester, and foster the development of cross-disciplinary communication skills. In addition, I often relied on games and simulations to illustrate the dynamics of environmental and public health policymaking and foster negotiation skills.
DIRTY POLITICS
Since consumers were first introduced to the promise of “better living through chemistry,” society has had to wrestle with the impacts, often far removed in place and time, resulting from a rapid proliferation of hazardous chemicals and wastes. Policy responses, be they at the local, national or global scale, are often limited to reactionary efforts to counter releases into the environment, are constrained by the prevalent use of the technologies in question, and further bring to the fore key challenges of environmental justice and risk management. How then are we to regulate DDT without adversely affecting our fight against mosquito-borne malaria? How might we preserve the ozone layer while still maintaining the benefits of food preservation through refrigeration? How can we reap the benefits of the electronic age without condoning the steady flow of electronic waste affecting workers’ health and environments in developing countries? In this course, emphasis is placed on understanding the politics that bring about, and allow us to address, these problems.We then examine novel policy responses, including the US’ revised legislation on chemicals passed in 2016 and citizen science initiatives such as those that brought attention to the crisis of lead-contaminated water in Flint, MI.