{"id":1644,"date":"2021-09-16T15:32:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T22:32:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/?p=1644"},"modified":"2021-09-23T16:38:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-23T23:38:04","slug":"ta-spotlight-amy-liu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/2021\/09\/ta-spotlight-amy-liu\/","title":{"rendered":"TA Spotlight – Amy Liu"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo source: Amy Liu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hi, I\u2019m Amy, a big fan of genetics, conservation, and fishy science! I graduated from University of Victoria with a B.Sc. in Biology in 2019. Currently, I\u2019m a master\u2019s student with Dr. Eric B. Taylor, working with the great team at the Taylor Lab. My research is on \u201cSpecies and Speciation in Western North American Char (which is a fish)\u201d. For my thesis, I\u2019m in the process of testing molecular tools to differentiate among char species and I\u2019m also investigating the hybrid zone of two Dolly Varden subspecies in Chignik Lake Alaska.<\/p>\n

At UBC, I\u2019ve taught BIOL 230 \u2013 Fundamentals of Ecology, BIOL 121 \u2013 Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology, BIOL 121 (Land One), and BIOL 445 \u2013 Darwin\u2019s Fishes. As an undergraduate at UVic, I taught BIOL 184, Evolution and Biodiversity.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also a self-proclaimed pufferfish enthusiast.<\/p>\n

You can find me on Twitter at @Tetraodontidaes<\/a>, and c<\/span>heck out the Researchers Revealed video on my work here: https:\/\/explore.beatymuseum.ubc.ca\/researchers-revealed\/a_liu\/<\/a><\/p>\n

What do you most enjoy about being a TA?<\/em><\/h4>\n

I enjoy making people feel excited, motivated, and passionate about what they\u2019re learning because if it\u2019s fun then learning is a positive experience and not a chore. I approach teaching like a solving a puzzle – I like taking concepts I found difficult when learning and teaching those concepts in an effective and simpler way. For example, I always had the hardest time wrapping my head around terms like genes and loci and how they relate. When teaching those terms, I always draw out the terms for my students and provide simple relatable examples for them to follow.<\/p>\n

What has being a TA brought to your graduate studies experience?<\/em><\/h4>\n

Being a TA has taught me how to learn and communicate effectively \u2013 which is an incredible skill in my graduate studies because you never stop learning and communicating. In addition, it’s always great to refresh my memory on fundamental concepts. I always look forward to TAing a class because I am learning as much as I am teaching!<\/p>\n

What has been an interesting outcome of your TA experience?<\/em><\/h4>\n

Being friends with so many cool professors I don\u2019t think I would have interacted with otherwise. They\u2019ve been great mentors and have provided me with a lot of laughs, cookies, and guidance when working together.<\/p>\n

What opportunities relating to teaching and learning have you been a part of?<\/em><\/h4>\n

I have worked as a coordinator of the LEEF<\/a> program connecting graduate students and teachers across the lower mainland to deliver classroom lessons on ecology and evolution. I also highly recommend attending the BioTAP<\/a> workshops, which are always very informative, fun, and run by amazing instructors. I\u2019m super grateful to be the recipient of the 2021 Killam Graduate Teaching Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What do you like to do in your spare time?<\/em><\/h4>\n

I\u2019m a traditional and digital artist. I like working with oil, and acrylic painting, and watercolour pencils. I also enjoy hiking, kickboxing, pickling vegetables, and video games. One day I\u2019ll own a big fish tank. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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What are your plans following graduation?<\/em><\/h4>\n

I\u2019m going to take a break from academia after finishing my master\u2019s and work on fishy science elsewhere! So far, I\u2019ve only had 6 months of my graduate program out of COVID times, and I think I need some time to recuperate from the pandemic and really figure out what I\u2019d like to work on. A job with income would be nice for now! And after that, who knows? I might come back to do a PhD and take the fish world by storm in due time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi, I\u2019m Amy, a big fan of genetics, conservation, and fishy science! I graduated from University of Victoria with a B.Sc. in Biology in 2019. Currently, I\u2019m a master\u2019s student with Dr. Eric B. Taylor, working with the great team at the Taylor Lab. My research is on \u201cSpecies and Speciation in Western North American … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “TA Spotlight – Amy Liu”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66452,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4398934],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ta-spotlight","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1644"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1658,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1644\/revisions\/1658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/bionews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}