TA Spotlight – Sravya Paluri

Photo source: Sravya Paluri

I am from Bombay (Mumbai), India, and completed my undergraduate degree in Microbiology and Biochemisty at St. Xavier’s College in India and graduate degree in Biological Sciences at the University of Cologne in Germany.

I am currently a PhD Candidate in the Auld lab in the Dept. of Zoology at UBC, where I’m studying the proteins that form the Blood-brain-barrier (BBB) and the mechanisms by which the BBB is being regulated in Drosophila fruit flies. The BBB is selective and controls the molecules that can enter the brain, thereby protecting the brain from potential damage.

Since coming to UBC in 2016, I’ve TA’ed several courses, including BIOL 200 (Introduction to Cell Biology), BIOL 201 (Introduction to Biochemistry), BIOL 330 (Developmental Biology (Lecture)), and BIOL 331 (Developmental Biology). I’m currently a Senior TA in BIOL 331, which comes with additional teaching and laboratory responsibilities, such as serving as a guest lecturer and maintaining the fruit fly lines.

During my time at UBC, I’ve served as a representative for the Zoology Graduate Student Association (ZGSA) and as a Grad student representative for faculty hiring in the department of Zoology. I’ve also been involved with various EDI-focused initiatives and events at UBC, such as working with the Zoology EDI committee, serving as a panelist during an IBPOC STEM Network workshop, and moderating the ‘Identification of Ethical Grey Zone’ activity in many grad-level courses.

What do you most enjoy about being a TA?

I love how being a TA is so dynamic in nature and that I get to do and learn lots of different things. It’s satisfying and exciting to watch students learn and grow during the course. At that same time, I also learn so much from students. They usually ask questions that I’ve never thought of before and it helps me to expand my own knowledge and understanding.

I also enjoy being able to try out new things and incorporate teaching strategies and techniques that I learn about in my own teaching training, such as through the CTLT Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) and BioTAP.

What’s one of the most interesting experiences you’ve had as a TA?

During the summer of 2019, I worked with Dr. Stella Lee on a Skylight grant-funded project for BIOL 331 to develop the CURE (Course-based Undergraduate Research Experience) component. The goal for the CURE was to guide students to investigate a novel question and design an experiment to test it during the course. To help students prepare for this, we created specialized teaching plans and materials that included workshops to help them search for papers, interpret data from papers, and apply this knowledge to come up with a novel research question. In addition to developing these materials, I was invited as a guest lecturer for the course and conducted these workshops. This was a great learning experience for me and helped me to understand different aspects of teaching as a lecturer as well.

What has been an interesting outcome of your TA experience?

I think I can now better appreciate how hard it is to be a teacher. When I was an undergrad I thought teaching just involved gathering the teaching materials and teaching the class. But now I know that you have to put in so much behind the scenes and that it involves continuously learning and adapting. For example, I designed one component of one course and it took me four months! So now I know that the things that are ‘seemingly’ easy about teaching are actually not easy at all. It has given me a new appreciation for teaching.

What has being a TA brought to your graduate studies experience?

I think I have learned to be more patient. I have also been able to learn the course concepts in a different light and greater detail, because to be able to teach something, you need to know it really well. This has been especially helpful to me because many of the concepts we discuss in class are also related to my PhD project, so I’m better able to incorporate them into my research. All of this has helped me to become a better grad student.

How has your unique background influenced your TA experience?

I was always the student who took my time and had to work really hard to learn a concept, so now when I see that happening with students I can understand and empathize with them and help them in a way that they can relate to.

Also when I was an undergrad we didn’t have TAs, so we had to really depend on other students to help us learn the material. Because of this, I often encourage students to work with one another and learn from each other. They also learn better that way because if they are able to explain something to their peers, then they will be able to grasp the concept better. They can also help each other in a more relatable way because they are going through the same things and are more at the same level of understanding.

Finally, the fact that I studied in two other countries (India and Germany) also helps me to understand the different backgrounds that students might be coming from. I’m also able to understand students who have expertise in different fields because I’ve been able to study different specialties (e.g., microbiology, biochemistry).

What is one way that you think TAs can be better supported?

Many TAs are living with invisible disabilities. It can really affect our ability to perform well at work. I live with a chronic illness called endometriosis and this can sometimes impact how I’m able to perform my TA responsibilities. I feel like we should be talking about this more because so many of us are living with hidden and invisible disabilities and are struggling on our own, but the more we talk about it, the more support and accommodations we will get. The first step towards this is acknowledging that people are living with invisible disabilities.

The sad thing is that so many graduate students end up quitting their program because they are not able to get the support they need. Personally, I would not have been able to continue in my PhD program if it were not for the support I received from my supervisor Dr. Vanessa Auld and instructor Dr. Stella Lee. They have both been very understanding, flexible, and accommodating, which has made all of the difference for me.

What are your plans following graduation?

I want to be heavily involved in teaching! I am not sure in what capacity that might be, such as a course designer or instructor, but I know that I really like the field of teaching.

I’m also potentially interested in going into something related to health care education and policy making. For example, many people with endometriosis are not getting the care they need because there is an overall lack of understanding by health care practitioners and a stigma associated with the condition. In my case, it took me a long time to finally get diagnosed, and once I did, there were still many hurdles that I had to overcome to get the care I needed. I hope that I can get involved in the health sector and help decrease the hurdles faced by people living with chronic conditions like endometriosis.

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