Faculty and Graduate Students

 

Ph.D. Science Education

Naomi Gutierrez (2024)
Naomi Gutierrez earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from New Mexico State University. She moved to Fort Worth to be a 6th grade. After participating in professional development through the Andrews Institute funded by a Teacher Quality Grant, she enrolled in the M.Ed. program at TCU. She has presented research on the intersection of science and language at ICRSME and SSMA. After graduation in May 2024, she enrolled in the doctoral program. 

Lex Salazar (2024)  

Carmella Killburn (2023) 
Carmella earned her B.S. in biology at UNT and her M.A. in biology at TCU. She currently teaches in the Biology Department at TCU. 

Jodi Sarber (2023) 
Jodi Sarber graduated from TCU in 2001 with a B.S. in Biology. Before beginning her current career as a teacher with Fort Worth ISD, she was a Zookeeper with the Fort Worth Zoo. She earned her Master's in Curriculum and Instruction-Science from UT-Arlington in 2014. To further her pedagogy, she then transitioned her teaching experience and taught middle school science to beginner level emerging bilingual students. Her passion for science education has led her to the TCU doctoral program focusing her research on supporting science teachers to better serve multilingual students.   

Gracie Davis (2022) 
Gracie Davis holds a B.S. in Neuroscience from Baylor University and a M.S.  in Neurobiology from the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA).  Her love of teaching science began when she taught college undergraduates at UTSA.   

Christelle Fayad (2022) 
Christelle Fayad earned a B.S. in Biology and M.S. in Molecular Biology from the Lebanese American University. She obtained a Teaching Diploma from the University of Balamand. Christelle worked in targeted cancer therapeutics and published a study about photoactivatable chemotherapy in the Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry. Her educational roles included being a laboratory instructor at the Lebanese American University and an elementary science teacher in Bechmezine High School. Christelle is president of the Graduate Student Senate, received the STARS award from the office of graduate studies at TCU, and is enjoying courses and activities at TCU.  

 Zuzana Garcia (2022) 

Rocco Williams (2022) 
Rocco Williams, originally from the Chicagoland area, moved to Fort Worth immediately after graduating from Illinois State University with a B.S. in Elementary Education. With a 17-year career entirely within Fort Worth ISD, Rocco has served as a 5th-grade science teacher, science instructional coach, and science curriculum coordinator. In 2016, he earned his M.Ed. in Instructional Design with Technology from the American College of Education. Rocco co-founded an educational technology start-up in 2017 and has been dedicated to developing online science resources for teachers and students for the past six years. Currently, he is the president of the Texas Council for Elementary Science (TCES), an informal education organization dedicated to helping elementary science teachers connect, collaborate, and grow.  

Naomi Alanis (2021) 
Naomi is an El Paso, TX native but grew up in the DFW area. Naomi holds an A.A. in Music from El Centro College, B.A. in Psychology from the UT- Arlington, an MS in Information Science with a concentration on Health Informatics from the UNT, and an M.B.A. in Healthcare & Executive Leadership and Coaching from the UT-Dallas. She recently became a Holmes Scholar at TCU. Naomi plays the violin in the Coppell Community Orchestra, for which she is the music librarian and board member. 

Jessie Farris (2021)
Jessie developed a passion for conservation and native plants at TCU before graduating in 2017. She has been with the City of Dallas for three years as the Northwest District Arborist. When she’s not in the field or meeting with clients, Jessie’s focus is on public education, citizen science, and developing training materials for the City.  Her work with the city led her to pursue a Master’s degree in Sustainable Natural Resource Management at Unity College. She is pursuing her Doctorate in Science Education. Her goal is to connect students and local communities to the natural environment and promote active stewardship of its ecological resources to strengthen local and equitable resilience to climate change while creating more sustainable and community-based resource management strategies. 

Morgan Jansing (2021) 
Morgan holds a B.S. in Environmental Biology from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, and an M.S. in Environmental Studies from TCU. Throughout her schooling and her career, she has found ways to stay involved with her two loves: science and education. She holds a teaching certification through the Houston Montessori Center and taught 4th, 5th and 6th grade. She is currently the Director of School Programs at BRIT.  

Ashley Titus (2020) 
Ashley earned her M.E.M. at TCU in 2016. While at TCU, she worked as a graduate assistant for the Institute of Ranch Management (IRM). During that time, she had the opportunity to help develop TCU’s Living Laboratory and worked with international stakeholders to spread IRM’s sustainability message. Post-graduation she worked in the public and private sectors of the environmental industry. Ashley is interested in researching educational methods to bridge the gap between ranching and scientific communities. 

Jennifer Tuff (2020) 
Jennifer has taught biology in Fort Worth ISD for the past 15 years. She received her M.Ed. from the TCU College of Education in 2019. Her focus during her Master's was incorporating reading through digital literacy programs into the science classroom to improve content understanding. She hopes to continue to study the ties between literacy and content understanding during her doctoral research.  

Stephanie Wallace (2020) 
Stephanie earned her B.S. Biology at UT- Arlington (2006) and M.S. in Biology at TCU (2009). Since 2013, she has taught Anatomy and Physiology to undergraduate students. Most of her students are freshmen, many of whom struggle to find effective ways of learning difficult science material, and are also primarily nursing or pre-health majors, where it is important that the foundational knowledge of these courses be remembered for the long-term. Her interest focus on how to help first year students succeed in the biological sciences.  Stephanie is excited to be part of the Science Education doctoral program and learn how to more effectively research the answers to this question to help give students the best tools to learn science. 

Jayme Simlin Del Mario (2019) 
Jayme earned her B.S. in Biology from Oklahoma State University (2010) and began working at a Bariatric surgery clinic in 2012. After earning her M.S. in Biological Interdisciplinary Studies from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine, she took a leap of faith into K-12 education, teaching Medical Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology and Pathophysiology at Duncanville High School for 5 years. Since then, Jayme has served in a variety of educational roles and settings within higher education and K-12 institutions. Jayme enjoys collaborating with secondary educators to support engaging teaching and learning strategies.  

Lara Kuhlman (2019) 
Lara earned her B.S. in Animal Science (2004) and M.S. in Physiology of Reproduction (2008) from Texas A&M. After graduation, Lara began teaching Biology and Advanced Placement (AP) Biology at Paschal High School for five years. She has also taught three years of Middle School Science including Earth Science, Life Science, and Physical Science. Beginning in 2013 to present, Lara has been an adjunct professor at Tarrant County College, teaching Anatomy and Physiology II. She is also a Certified ISR Self-Rescue Swim Instructor. Lara was born and raised in Fort Worth and is excited to begin the Science Education Doctoral program at TCU. 

Megan Clawson (2018) 
Megan earned her B.S. in Biology at TCU (2002), and began teaching in 2003. She loved her time in the science classroom and decided to pursue graduate work in science education. She received her M.Ed. in Math, Science, and Technology Education from The Ohio State University (2009). She has served in a variety of educational roles and settings including both K-12 education and higher education. She currently works for FWISD in the research area. Her interests include discipline-based educational research, and the development of pedagogical content knowledge. 

Tonie Domino (2018) 
Tonie earned her B.S. in biology (2008) at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, and her DVM from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University (2013). After a short time as an associate in an equine/farm animal practice, she returned to Cornell in 2015 for a residency in ambulatory and production medicine (the specialty of preventative care and welfare for farm animals). Her research interests include how learning occurs at different phases of the veterinary curriculum (early basic sciences vs. later clinical reasoning), how veterinary students might use writing to study/learn, and how veterinarians communicate with their clients. 

Callie Price (2017) 
Callie Price earned her B.S. and M.S. in Biology from Tarleton State University and is now a full-time instructor and lab coordinator for their Biology Department. Her research focus is on equity issues of access for students with special needs. She came to TCU to further develop her passion for education into defined research skills and become a more effective researcher and educator for students. 

Master’s in Mathematics and Science Education 

Science Education 
Juanita Britton (2024)
Kathleen Cluchey (2024) 
Takia Dinkins (2024) 
Ethan Doll (2024) 
Nancy Rodriguez (2023)
Keren Tran (2023)
Magdalena Salas (2022)
Tanya Warren (2022) 

Mathematics Education
Michael Fosu (2024)
Caren Fayyad (2024)
Caren Fayyad earned her B.S. from Beirut Arab University in Business Administration with a focus on Banking and Finance. She then pursued a Teaching Diploma in Business Administration at the University of Balamand. Caren gained valuable experience teaching mathematics to elementary students at the International School Al Koura. She also gained valuable experience during the Lebanese economic crisis, serving as an intern for Chemonics International under the USAID CSP-funded program to help municipalities in need. Caren has a deep passion for mathematics and education and is excited to strengthen and develop her abilities in the hopes of building a fruitful career assisting the community. 

Jules Watson (2024)
Sara Hester (2024) 
Wanda Bonder (2024)
Wanda Bonder earned her B.S. from Boston University in Information Technology, Business Systems, and worked in corporate IT training for 20 years. She is currently a math and science teacher on the special education team at the Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts. Her research interest is in pedagogical approaches and the goal of improving her own teaching practices.  

Mathis Bennett (2024)
Taiwo Omopariola (2023)
Misty Peek (2023) 
Diana Bermea (2023) 
Anne Wunneburger (2023) 
Camilla Padilla (2023)