Chloe Lash, PhD

Assistant Professor of Plant Biology
Metz Hall, 403B
210-431-4097
cllash@ollusa.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Areas of Expertise

I am an ecologist with research interests in plant-insect interactions, habitat restoration, insect behavior, and insect immunity. Most of my work centers on ant-mediated seed dispersal and ant social immunity (how ants defend the colony against pathogens), but I am always happy to dive into a new area of research to allow students to pursue their interests.

I use a combination of field research and lab research to explore behavior, bacterial and fungal microbiomes, chemical production, and other aspects of community ecology. I also enjoy learning new statistical techniques to explore complex ecological data.

Teaching Philosophy

To encourage self-motivated student learning, I believe that classrooms should be inclusive environments that promote independent thought and application of course concepts to real world problems. Biologists should be primarily motivated by their curiosity about the natural world.

I seek to foster that curiosity in the classroom by integrating scientific research into coursework and cultivating scientific literacy and outside of the classroom through mentoring and community engagement. I strive for a classroom that gives all students the opportunity to perform their best by incorporating practices that support and promote diversity and inclusion and are informed by biology education research and professional development for teaching.

I utilize many active learning techniques in my classroom to balance traditional lecture with hands-on learning and have recently started incorporating service-learning into laboratory courses.

Outside Interests

Coming Soon.