Contact Us

UW Science Initiative

SIB Rm 2030

Department 4325, 1000 E. University

Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: 307-766-4415

Email: SI@uwyo.edu

UW Top-Tier Science Initiative Logo

Featured LAMP Learning Assistants Over Time


Fall 2023 Featured Learning Assistant

 

McKenna Hackett

Professor Kassandra Willingham writes of her LA:

McKenna dedicated 5 semesters to serving as a learning assistant for both General and Medical Microbiology. She played an instrumental role in the development of both of these courses and I couldn’t have done it without her. She is an extremely versatile, thoughtful, creative and dependable person and her students and I are lucky to have worked with her.

McKenna Hackett


Spring 2023 Featured Learning Assistant

 

Erin Bentley

Rachel Watson writes of her LA:

Erin was the Learning Assistant for the Microbiology Capstone course during the Fall of 2022. She
spearheaded a science-art collaboration called the Owens Lakebed Project. This project melded,
sculpted, and morphed ways of knowing as we framed the landscape through lenses of film,
chemistry, microbiology, geology, environmental justice, photography, and 3-D art. Members of The
Optics Division of Metabolic Studio invited scholars and educators from UW and Laramie HS to
experience their process of using Owens lakebed as a key step in their development of photos. The
UW Capstone students explored the microbiology and chemistry of the soil and water as it interacted
with print fixation. Students of the Laramie HS Advanced 3-D Art class created their own land-based
art in response. During the final showcase, held at the UW Art Museum, Erin collected data measuring
attendees’ perceptions of the integration of art and science. 

Erin Bentley


Fall 2022 Featured Learning Assistant

 

Ruby Jenco

Maggie Bourque of the HAUB School writes of her LA:  
 
Ruby has been an incredible active learning partner, leader, and assistant. We have been working together since fall of 2021, focused on enhancing, studying, developing, and implementing active learning curricula for first-year students across a range of fields of study. Ruby is sharp, insightful, and kind; I trust and value her vision for excellent active learning experiences, and her initiative and reliability for coordinating complex sessions in class and field-based settings is so strong, often communicating with guests and community partners as well as faculty and students. Ruby is a leader in the classroom sessions as well; increasingly we’ve been building full programs, lesson plans, and assessments together, and Ruby has taken the lead on planning peer-led study skills sessions, tours of campus facilities that are relevant to the topics we’re studying, and facilitating leadership, outdoor experiences, and personal development sessions alongside the coursework. She’s truly wonderful as a research and teaching assistant, mentor to first-year students, and emerging educational leader. Thank you to LAMP for supporting this partnership and for helping Ruby and me reach new levels of excellence in curriculum design and within our teaching practices! 

Ruby Jenco


Spring 2022 Featured Learning Assistant 

 

Vinaya Palecanda

Dr. Kimberly Frith of Civil and Architectural Engineering writes of her LA: 

Vinaya has proven herself as a valuable member of the teaching team in our course. From the beginning of the semester, she's shown her ability to work with the students and the instructor effectively and answer the students' most challenging questions about the course content. She's approachable and floats through the classroom work sessions naturally, checking in with students and clearing up any areas of confusion. Her organizational skills are an asset to our large active learning classroom. Our class is fortunate to have her on the teaching team this semester and I look forward to seeing her grow & shine in this leadership role this semester. 

Vinaya Palecanda


Fall 2021 Featured Learning Assistants 

 

Brandon Bryngleson 

Dr. Joe Russo of Education writes of his LA:  

Bradon Bryngleson has been a Godsend. He is always in his seat well before class begins and is therefore available to students as they arrive. Bradon is knowledgeable about the material and the ways by which I try to lead students to deepened understandings. Bradon delivers lectures on his own and is at all times open to trying new approaches. A solid teaching assistant to be sure!  

Brandon Bryngleson

 

McKenna Hackett  

Professor Kassandra Willingham writes of her LA:  

McKenna Hackett is an excellent learning assistant.  She is completely dedicated to the success of our class, she’s always asking how she can do more, she has creative ideas for active learning, and she’s extremely reliable.  I can’t say enough good things about her.  

McKenna Hackett


Spring 2021 Featured Learning Assistants 

 

Sade Fermelia 

Sade was one of a small handful of students to join the LA program in its inaugural semester. Since that time, Sade has been an LA for Microbiology, Physics, the Active Learning Best Practices course, and the Science Roadshow Outreach. Sade created outreach materials that integrate science and art. They lead learners on how to extract pigments from roses, make paint from these pigments, and document the entire process using a laboratory notebook. Sade has also collected, compiled, and presented assessment data for both LAMP and Roadshow. They have become one of the most learned members of our University community in active pedagogies. Sade is a consummate leader, teacher, and educational researcher.   

 

Sydney Comet 

Sydney was a learning assistant for Biological Chemistry and worked with Amy Navratil. She conceptualized a novel strategy for allowing students to reflect on their class preparation. She created a blog for each student, and before every synchronous session, students wrote about things that surprised or confused them about the pre-class readings and vodcasts. In this team-based learning (TBL) classroom, Sydney’s teams showed marked growth. They learned to give one another rich, substantive feedback, and this allowed members to hone their communication skills and build a productive team. Sydney was also a member of the Virtual Roadshow team. Throughout the summer, she assisted in making vodcasts for our statewide K-12 partners; these included kitchen science and updates on her own lab work as part of the COVID-response team at the Wyoming Public Health Labs. Sydney also helped facilitate a synchronous session with Riverton Junior High Students in which they solved mock genetic counseling case studies. Sydney overflows with passion for student success. One of Sydney’s students commented, “Whenever we were stuck in some problems, she explained those problems at her best level. And she was really helpful for me throughout the semester.” 

Sydney Comet


Spring 2020 Featured Learning Assistant

 

Liam Guille 

Liam was a LAMP LA since the kick-off of the program in spring of 2018. His mentor was Chris North. Liam assisted with General Microbiology and Marine Biology and developed innovative curriculum for the latter, proposing innovative ideas such as “The Invisible College” to enable team-based learning to become even more representative of the way in which academic scholars collaborate.  

Liam Guille


Fall 2019 Featured Learning Assistant 

 

CJ Stewarts

CJ Stewarts assisted Michele Larson in teaching LIFE 2023.  

CJ Stewarts


 

 
Contact Us

UW Science Initiative

SIB Rm 2030

Department 4325, 1000 E. University

Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: 307-766-4415

Email: SI@uwyo.edu

UW Top-Tier Science Initiative Logo