My goal as a teacher is to excite students about the process of learning and figuring out things for themselves.

Because doing is the key to learning, I strive constantly to incorporate active learning techniques. I use frequent in-class exercises, both individual and group, to gives students the opportunity to try new things.

I develop projects that are as close as possible to "real life" situations, to better prepare students for life after school. My teaching and research are closely linked, particularly at the graduate level. Every year I offer at least one collaborative research course in which I work with a team of graduates students to address an original research question. Recently, we have been collaborating with faculty and students at Iowa State University and the University of Washington to understand how conservation science is used in county and municipal planning.

To improve continuously the breadth and quality of information available to land use planners, natural resource managers, and other people whose activities shape our landscapes; and to increase the degree to which such information is incorporated into local planning activities.

Conservation planning for biodiversity is often hindered by lack of data. Protection of suitable surrogate species or taxa is a popular way to deal with this problem: planning is focused on a small number of species or taxa expected to represent many others. I've been exploring this issue from a conceptual perspective through a number of collaborative research courses.

My graduate students and I are applying a surrogate species approach to help plan open space networks in suburbanizing areas. We are also collectiing data on birds and salamanders in the greenways of Raleigh and Cary, NC to help improve the design of greenways for wildlife.