Overview
My work is oriented around: teaching, promoting best pedogeological practices, and creating educational materials. I specifically concentrate on biology, ecology, and environmental science education, both in person and online.
Research Focus
Teaching at Cornell: Over the last 9 years I have worked to transform BioEE 1610 “Ecology and The Environment” into a course that heavily incorporates active learning. My active learning model uses a number of activities spread throughout a lecture such that students are active engaged for 30% to 60% of a given lecture. As we have used more active learning, we have collected data that demonstrates an increase in student engagement and satisfaction with the course as well as an increase in the confidence that students have with ecological literacy. Furthermore, I developed an asynchronous online version of BioEE 1610 to give more students at home and abroad access to the course. I also teach a course that help graduate students prepare for their first position as a primary instructor. The courses I teach include:
- BioEE 1610: Ecology and The Environment
- BioEE 7600: Science Teaching: Preparation and Practice (Spring)
- BioEE 4980: Teaching Experience (Fall, Spring)
Creating wide-reaching educational materials/courses: I have created dozens of educational materials that, in total, are used more than 100,000 times per year. I have also developed online courses that have been / are taken by thousands of students each year. By making educational materials: accessible, charismatic, interactive, and adaptive students are better able to achieve learning outcomes. Here are a few highlights:
- 2 very large-scale online introductory biology courses.
- Dozens of widely used online activities.
- Textbook: The Environment and You
- Online Labs: Pearson Interactive Labs
Ecology Research: I still have some involvement with ecology research. My research focuses on animal behavior at the intersection of predator-prey interactions, optimal foraging, and ecological physiology.
Promoting Education Pedagogy: I serve on the Ecological Society of America’s 4DEE committee (Four-Dimensional Ecology Education) as well as 2 sub committees. As a part of this endeavor, I have given numerous presentations/ concerning ecology education pedagogy and mentored faculty in improving their ecology teaching. Outside of that I have consulted on numerous state/national/global projects aimed at promoting science education. I am also involved in promoting education through publications and educational research. Selected publications are listed below.
Affiliations
Ecological Society of America's 4DEE committee (Four-Dimensional Ecology Education)
Publications
- St. Juliana, J. R., B. P. Kotler, B. Pinshow, and N. Kronfeld-Schor (2019) Optimal foraging and physiological responses to the risk of predation: how fecal cortisol concentrations from trapped Allenby's gerbil (Gerbillus andersoni allenbyi) relate to foraging under the risk of predation. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution.
- St. Juliana, J. R., B. P. Kotler, N. Wielebnowski, and J. G. Cox (2017) Stress as an adaptation: Stress hormones are correlated with optimal foraging behavior of gerbils under the risk of predation. Evolutionary Ecology Research.
- St. Juliana, J. R., and W. A. Mitchell (2016) Optimal foraging behavior and the thermal neutral zone of Peromyscus leucopus during winter: a test using natural and controlled ambient temperatures. Journal of Thermal Biology.
- St. Juliana J. R., I. S. Khokhlova, N. Wielebnowski, B. P. Kotler, and B. R. Krasnov (2014) Ectoparasitism and stress hormones: strategy of host exploitation, common host-parasite history, and energetics matter. Journal of Animal Ecology.
- St. Juliana, J. R., B. M. Fenton, C. Korine, B. Pinshow, M. Wojciechowski, and V. Kravchenko (2008) A field assessment of the defensive responses of moths to an auditory stimulus. Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution.
- St. Juliana, J. R., B. P. Kotler, J. S. Brown, S. Mukherjee, and A. Bouskila (2011) The foraging response of gerbils to a gradient of predator numbers. Evolutionary Ecology Research.
- St. Juliana, J. R., and F. J. Janzen (2007) Can phenotypic variances be estimated reliably under homogeneous laboratory conditions? Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
- St. Juliana, J. R., R. M. Bowden, and F. J. Janzen (2004) The impact of behavioral and physiological maternal effects on offspring sex ratio in the common snapping turtle Chelydra serpentine. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
- Scanga, S.E., Rodgers, B.L., Byrne, L.B., Honea, J.M., St. Juliana, J.R., Tietjen, E.S., and Middendorf, G. (In Review) Hooks for 4-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) teaching with different non-major audiences. Ecosphere.
- Rodgers, V.L., Scanga, S.E., St Juliana, J.R., Tietjen, E.S., Honea, J.M., Byrne, L.B., Leggett, Z.H. and Middendorf, G. (2024), Four-Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) for everyone: teaching ecology to non-majors. Frontiers in Ecology and The Environment, 22: e2749.
- Odom, S., Boso, H., Bowling, S., Brownell, S., Cotner, S., Creech, C., Drake, A.G., Eddy, S., Fagbodun, S., Hebert, S. and James, A.C., Just, J., St. Juliana, J. R., Shuster, M., Thompson S. K., Whittington, R. Wills, B. D., Wilson, A. E., Zamudio, K. R., Zhong, M., and Balle, C. J. (2021). Meta-analysis of gender performance gaps in undergraduate natural science courses. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(3), p.ar40.
- Meaders, C., Smith, M.K., Boester, T., Bracy, A., Couch, B.A., Drake, A.G., Farooq, S., Khoda, B., Kinsland, C., Lane, A.K. and Lindahl, S.E., Livingston, W. H., Bundy, A. M., McCormic, A., Morozov, A. I., Newell-Caito, J. L., Ruskin, K. J., Savary, M. A., Stains, M., St. Juliana, J. R., Thomas, S. R., van Es, C., Vinson, E. L., Vitousek, M. N., Stetzer, M. R., 2021. What questions are on the minds of STEM undergraduate students and how can they be addressed? In Frontiers in Education Vol. 6, p. 28.
- Salehi, S., Berk, S.A., Brunelli, R., Cotner, S., Creech, C., Drake, A.G., Fagbodun, S., Hall, C., Hebert, S., Hewlett, J. and James, A.C., Shuster, M. St. Juliana, J. R., Stovall, D. B., Whittington, R. Zong, M., and Ballen, C. J. (2021). Context Matters: Social Psychological Factors That Underlie Academic Performance across Seven Institutions. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(4), p.ar68.
- Hefferon, K. L., J. R. St. Juliana, H. I. Miller (2020) College, Coursework, and Covid. City Journal.