My teaching philosophy is grounded in the creation of a constructive atmosphere where class members are participants in empowering each other. The teaching process - developing lectures, fielding discussions, breaking down assumptions and concepts - is an essential component of my own education. I can only hope that students learn as much from me as I learn from them!
Invited lecturer. “Global Change and the Ecology of Vector-Borne Disease” for “Human Biology: Genetics, Evolution, and Ecology” (Stanford University, HUMBIO2A). Fall 2023. Undergraduate course introducing the principles of classical and modern genetics, evolutionary theory, and population biology.
Co-instructor. “CRISPR Journal Club” (Innovative Genomics Institute). Spring 2022 & Fall 2021. Undergraduate reading and discussion group covering the foundational development of CRISPR genome-editing technology, basic research uses, and real-world applications.
Invited lecturer. “The Economic Intersection of Climate Change and Public Health” for “A Sustainable World: Challenges and Opportunities” (UC Berkeley PBHLTH 101). Fall 2020. Undergraduate course introducing linkages between the environment and human health.
Graduate student instructor. “Climate Change Economics” (UC Berkeley ENERES 276, ENERES 176). Fall 2017. Graduate and upper-level undergraduate course encompassing integrated assessment model development, climate policy, and economics.
Barnes, R.; Vásquez, V.N.; Clarke, A.T. “Mathematical Programming Can Make Ecological Optimization Problems Straightforward and Tractable - Let’s See How.” Short course taught at the Ecological Society of America 2022 Annual Meeting, August 2022.
Vásquez, V.N.; Martinez, C.; Stoudt, S. “Principles for data-intensive research workflows: Guidance for the classroom and the computational laboratory.” Presentation and discussion for the Academic Data Science Alliance (ADSA) 2020 Annual Meeting, October 2020.
Vásquez, V.N.; Carvallo, J.P.; Sánchez, H.M.C. “Introducción a R y Git.” International Spanish-language workshop presented for Software Carpentries at the Berkeley Institute for Data Science, March 2019. [link]
Das, D.; Vásquez, V.N.; Barnes, R. “Pedagogy and Support Systems for Non-Classroom Data Science Instruction.” Presentation and discussion for the Moore-Sloan Data Science Environments (MSDSE) Summit, October 2018.