Lori  Blanc, Ph.D. 

Post-doctoral Research Associate

Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech

My teaching style emphasizes relevance to the student’s lives and career goals, and relevance to society and current events. I encourage students to find the connections between the course content and their own lives, and then use those connections to make the learning process more interesting.  This is usually accomplished through having the students propose their own projects or research topics.

I have applied this teaching philosophy to computer science courses at Cal Poly in  San Luis Obispo, CA, Methodist College in Fayetteville, NC, and biology / earth sustainability courses at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA. 

At Virginia Tech, I taught the Honors Biology lab in molecular genetic techniques and served as an instructor for 2 years in the Earth Sustainability program. During summer 2008, I was the faculty leader for American Universities International Programs study abroad programs to Australia and Fiji, which focused on sustainability, environmental worldviews, and conducting ecological studues in the field.