Welcome to the latest Sully Asks A Scientist (SAAS for short)! This one features a friend of mine from Penn State's Anth department that uses a rather squeaky and familiar mammalian model organism to learn about human anatomy. And speaking of mammals, what better way to celebrate the bracket drop for March Mammal Madness 2018 than with Kate's SAAS?! Kate even established an unofficial PSU Anth department trashtalk and updates hashtag if you'd like to follow along:
As a quick reminder, these SAAS guest blog posts will feature a Q&A format that will hopefully allow you to learn about who these scientists are as people. I'll also be sure to incorporate plenty of links for you to have quick and easy access to social media pro les, websites, articles, and other means of finding out more about each guest's research. Please leave some comments and let me know if there are other questions you'd like answered, or scientists you'd be keen on reading about. Enjoy!
Kate M. Lesciotto
Pennsylvania State University - Anthropology Ph.D. Candidate
Joan T. Richtsmeier's Morphometrics and Image Lab
Pennsylvania State University - Anthropology Ph.D. Candidate
Joan T. Richtsmeier's Morphometrics and Image Lab
What is your elevator pitch? AKA what do you do/study?
I study early craniofacial growth and development using mouse models. Right now, I’m focused on using a strain of big-brained mice as a proxy to understand how the human skull changed during the evolutionary process of encephalization (fancy word for growing big brains) – basically, as the brain gets bigger, what happens to the skull?
I study early craniofacial growth and development using mouse models. Right now, I’m focused on using a strain of big-brained mice as a proxy to understand how the human skull changed during the evolutionary process of encephalization (fancy word for growing big brains) – basically, as the brain gets bigger, what happens to the skull?
While research is the focus of my Ph.D., I have recently become very interested in pedagogy, or the science of teaching. Along with another graduate student, I organized the Pedagogy Interest Group in the anthropology department. Graduate students are (for the most part) expected to act as teaching assistants as soon as they begin at Penn State, and many of us are pursuing academic careers, but we receive no training in teaching or how to be effective instructors. The Pedagogy Interest Group was designed to help bridge that gap, and I’m really proud to be a part of that group.
Be sure to check out some of Kate's published works here!