Teaching
News:
2023-2024 Cornell's Center for Teaching Innovation Graduate Teaching Fellow
"The CTI graduate teaching fellowship provides graduate students with an opportunity to design and implement teaching programs, events, and resources that foster teaching excellence and innovation. Participants will develop leadership and mentorship skills, reflect on and refine their teaching skills, enhance their communication skills, and foster collaborative, interdisciplinary teaching networks across the university."
Classes Taught
BIOG 1250 - Sewage and Public Health Implications
Course Description:
Sewage is innately gross, filled with fluids and solids excreted from living creatures of all
kinds. It isn't exactly the most inviting habitat to sustain life, however, many
disease-causing pathogens thrive in our waste. Historically, poor sanitation, hygiene,
and management of our waste were the cause of many deadly outbreaks that had
devastating consequences.
Through the use of primary scientific articles, lectures, presentations, and a guest
speaker, we will cover the epidemiology of disease outbreaks associated with poor
waste management, the microbiology and virology that flourish in these conditions, and
the public health implications that are posing a threat in today's society.
BIOMI 1100 - Locker Rooms, Kitchens and Bedrooms: The Microbiology of College Life
Course Description:
Microbial habitats are literally everywhere on a college campus – and college students
interact with microorganisms daily. From the athlete locker room, to the kitchen,
to the bathroom, to between the sheets, college students are exposed to a plethora
of microorganisms that are benign, beneficial, and pathogenic.
The goal of this course is for students to learn about microbiology and microbial
ecology as it relates to them – in the college campus environment. Students will learn
about viruses, bacteria, eukarotes and metazoans that cause common illnesses
(i.e. gastroenteritis, influenza and STDs), the microbially-driven elemental cycling
of alcohol production, and ecology of microorganism that spoil food. Students will take
away a practical understanding of the microorganisms that they can apply to their
own lives. This course is suitable for non-life sciences majors.
BIOMI 2900 - General Microbiology Lectures
Course Description:
Comprehensive overview of the biology of microorganisms, with emphasis on bacteria.
Topics include microbial cell structure and function, physiology, metabolism, genetics,
diversity, and ecology. Also covers applied aspects of microbiology such as biotechnology,
the role of microorganisms in environmental processes, and medical microbiology.
Guest Lectured and Led Discussion Sections
Testimonials from past students
"Excellent visual design, engaging animations, and fun activities to keep class dynamic."
"The class involves a lot of interactions with various activities and has a clear purpose that match the learning outcomes."
"Professor Keller is clearly very knowledgeable about the topic and allowed us to choose from intriguing final presentation topics. This was a class the students looked forward going to."
"At one magical instant in your early childhood, the page of a book-that string of confused, alien ciphers-shivered into meaning. Words spoken to you, gave up their secrets; at that moment, whole universes opened. You became, irrevocably, a reader."
-Alberto Manguel