Karena Nguyen, Ph.D.
Assistant Director of Postdoctoral Services
Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Education | Georgia Institute of Technology
As an educator, I am committed to learning, developing, implementing, and assessing student-centered, evidence-based teaching approaches and activities. I aim to foster a sense of belonging within the spaces that I teach so all individuals feel supported and empowered to contribute to discussions and to pursue their own career interests.
From 2019-2021, I was a postdoctoral fellow with the Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) program at Emory University. In addition to conducting research, I had the privilege of working with Dr. Ethell Vereen and Dr. Lawrence Blumer to develop and teach my own course at Morehouse College. Below is a description and flyer for the course, which I taught virtually.
Parasites & People: Can You Worm Your Way Out?
BIO 322 | Morehouse College
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Course description: Students will broadly explore parasitology, disease ecology, and public health within the context of human health. The goal of the course is for students to assess disease outbreaks from the past and discuss approaches for mitigating disease outbreaks in the future. During the semester, students will complete case studies of major historical disease outbreaks, explore environmental drivers of disease, analyze the roles of stakeholders during outbreaks, and interpret current disease data sets. By viewing human diseases through the lens of history, I hope to incite student interest in parasitology, disease ecology, environmental science, and public health and how these fields influence our everyday lives.
I developed all lectures, activities, and exams for this course.
