Teaching

BSC 295: Acoustic Communication
Across the animal kingdom, sounds play critical roles in species survival, including mating, parental care, and predator avoidance. In this course, we will adopt a broad, integrative approach to this subject, examining the role of particular acoustic communication systems from the proximate level (ie, how do brains produce and detect sounds?) to the ultimate/evolutionary level (ie, how does this acoustic signal affect fitness?). Topics that might be covered include ultrasonic communication, duetting, acoustic threat displays, bird song learning/tutoring, sound-based mate localization, and/or eavesdropping.

BSC 295/PY 299: Physics and the Brain (coming Spring 2025!)
All biological processes operate under the rules of physics. We will use the brain, with its electrical circuits composed of living cells, to investigate how physics shapes biology. This course will be taught studio-style, with a mixture of lectures, group activities, and hands-on laboratory experiments. Students will gain an understanding of how fundamental physics principles underlie brain function in general, and the sense of hearing more specifically.