they/them/theirs
find me on twitter [at] mtn_ash
e-mail ​me at zemenic1 [at] msu [dot] edu
​

Greetings! I am currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Ballen Lab at Auburn University and the Weber Lab at Michigan State University.  I'm the Director and co-founder of Project Biodiversify, manage the Miridae Mobile Nursery, and also work at Rocknasium :)

I did my PhD in the Ecology Graduate Group at UC Davis in the Rosenheim Lab with lots of support from the Vannette Lab. I am a community ecologist and working to make biology courses equitable and inclusive, and like thinking about ecological networks, community assembly, plants, insects, and microbes.

​Outside of academia, I enjoy a nice spectrum of activities from adventuring outside to relaxing with friends and family. 
​

​Positionality statement
​

I am a white, able-bodied, non-binary person from the Great Lakes State. I grew up in a privileged and academically-supportive household, which I attribute to most of the opportunities I've been able to experience in my science career. I believe that given the opportunity, everyone has the capability to critically examine the world we live in and contribute to our scientific knowledge base. It is my goal to use the privileges I have to enable folks from all backgrounds and identities to do so. Concurrently, I hope that by being open with the difficulties I have faced in science/society and other emotional hardships I have experienced in my life, I can provide a safe, empathetic, and supportive environment for students to feel empowered and thrive in, whatever their background may be. Read here on the importance of declaring/recognizing positionally.

​Why i love BIOLOGY EDUCATION
​

Teaching is my passion and priority: Not only is it an exciting challenge to make difficult concepts understandable and relatable to students, teaching also contributes to our society's enthusiasm for and literacy of science. There are two key motivating themes to my teaching philosophy. First, I think it’s unclear to many students that our scientific knowledge base is continually growing, and that they are in a position to contribute to it. Therefore, making science accessible to students with research- and inquiry-based lessons is a key factor of my teaching philosophy. Second, students cannot achieve their full potential if they are not supported in the classroom environment. Our society, and therefore the science we do and the way we teach science, is not equitable. This is why striving for a fully inclusive classroom environment is also central to my teaching philosophy.

 other things i love to do

Bake tasty muffins

Adventure with Cosmo

Attempt to fathom spacetime

Play outside