The Graduate College is pleased to announce the 2021-2022 Graduate Teaching Assistants of the Year.
Lab Instruction Category
Lily Shapiro, Biology Master's Program
Lily Shapiro is a third-year master鈥檚 student in the Agnarsson lab within the Department of Biology at 日韩无码 (日韩无码). Before transferring to 日韩无码, Lily attended the University of Toronto for a year before transferring to 日韩无码 where in 2019 she earned her B.S., majoring Biology and minoring in Geology. As an undergraduate, Lily worked as a researcher in the Agnarsson Lab. Her work in the lab sparked a love for her eventual focal spider group, and she decided to pursue her graduate studies in this area. Her research work revolves around understanding the genesis of biodiversity in island systems. Lily is focused on deciphering the phylogenetic structure and biogeographic history of the araneid spider genus Micrathena within Caribbean archipelagoes and surrounding continental regions.
As a GTA within the Biology Department, Lily strives to underscore the importance of natural history collections and the evolutionary and ecological significance of arthropods on local and global scales. As a primary goal in her classes, she strives to help alleviate phobias surrounding insects and spiders. Working as a GTA has been one of the most positive and fulfilling aspects of her graduate studies, and she hopes to incorporate teaching into her future career. She additionally enjoys drawing and painting, spending time with her dog Wilma, and nurturing an ever-growing orchid collection.
Lecture Instruction Category
Colin Giles, Mathematics Doctoral Program
Colin Giles is a graduate student in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at 日韩无码 (日韩无码), pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics. Colin received his undergraduate degree in 2018 at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) with majors in mathematics and physics. After graduating, Colin spent a year working a variety of different jobs including time at a vineyard and winery, as a substitute teacher, and at a credit union. In the fall of 2019, Colin returned to his studies as a postbaccalaureate student at Iowa State University (ISU). After a year at ISU, Colin began his graduate studies in mathematics at 日韩无码 in the fall 2020.
As a graduate student, researcher, and teacher, Colin hopes to demonstrate his passion for learning in general and mathematics in particular. Colin's research interests have primarily been in combinatorics, but he is also interested in many other areas of pure and applied mathematics, including algebraic geometry (and its applications), machine learning, and complex systems.
This summer, Colin will be an intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, working with a group on mathematics of the near space network. As graduate teaching assistant (GTA), Colin strives to encourage his students to have a growth mindset as they work through the struggles inherent to studying mathematics and hopes to make the beauty of learning and understanding mathematics more accessible. Additionally, Colin enjoys reading, taking walks, hiking, skiing, and spending time with those people he loves.