Laura Keller 

 

           Laura Keller has a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Sciences from the Pennsylvania State University, where she was a teaching assistant in both classroom and laboratory settings. She gained additional teaching experience at Cornell University, where she earned her Ph.D. in Immunology, performing research focused on the adaptive immune system in early osteoarthritis. Laura also mentored undergraduate and research students in effective laboratory and scientific writing practices. In addition to working on her own studies, she developed interactive minicourses and workshops with her fellow graduate students to teach elementary and middle school students about immunology and molecular biology, using games, short videos, and model building to help children grasp basic and sophisticated concepts in these disciplines. As part of her teaching to school age children, Laura developed an interactive game to teach students how the adaptive immune system is able to recognize new foreign substances. As part of the Expanding Your Horizons program at Cornell University, Laura created a novel workshop incorporating superheroes with molecular biology to teach 7-9th grade girls and their parents about DNA, mutations, and evolutionary adaptations. She also developed three games to teach students about decoding DNA into messages, how mutations occur in a
population over time, and how different adaptations enable the success of a species. These innovative instructional approaches received countless positive feedback from both students and parents, and the workshop is still available via the Expanding Your Horizons program. In her free time, Laura enjoys riding her horse, taking walks with her husband and their dog, and taking care of her houseplants.