Personal Description:

My name is Katie and I have just completed my Ph.D. in biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Calgary. I am originally from Ireland where I did my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and a Masters in Molecular Biology with Bioinnovation. I have 11 years of University training in biology and chemistry but my specialties are in biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology. I really enjoy teaching and helping people to overcome difficulties in understanding complex subjects.

Tutoring Experience:

In Ireland, I spent a significant amount of time teaching labs to undergraduate students during my Masters degree. I taught biochemistry, molecular biology, and microbiology to undergraduate students enrolled in Genetics, Biochemistry, Medicine, Nutritional Sciences, and Microbiology programs. Additionally, I privately tutored the genetics class in cancer biology and I tutored a medical student one-to-one in biochemistry. At the University of Calgary, I haven't had many formal teaching positions but I took any opportunities to teach the Veterinary Medicine students about immunology as this was my supervisor's primary teaching appointment. Throughout my Ph.D… I have directly supervised 2 undergraduate students and 2 masters students. Additionally, I have trained and mentored countless other lab members.

Tutoring Approach:

People have different ways of learning and understanding complex information. I try my best to initially figure out which methods someone is going to understand and apply that to my teaching. I deal with very complex science on a daily basis and the easiest way to approach anything complex is to start very simply and basic. Once that basic foundation is learned, it is easy to build on that knowledge and add more complex layers of information. A frustrated student will never enjoy what they are learning, nor retain the information. I use a lot of diagrams and am a big fan or drawing things out on pieces of paper.