Biological Sciences
Natural and Health Sciences
2022 - present: Professor, University of Northern Colorado
2016 - 2022: Associate Professor, University of Northern Colorado
2011 - 2016: Assistant Professor, Utah Valley University
2008 - 2011: Adjunct Assistant Professor/ Lecturer, Utah State University
I am a biology education researcher and plant community ecologist. The central themes of my bioeducation research is climate change education and measuring the learner-centeredness and equity-mindedness of undergraduate biology classes. The bioeducation scholarship in my lab investigates interventions to address the psychological distance of climate change and raise awareness of social injustice in ecology fields. My lab has also developed and compared several research instruments to explore climate change understanding, evolution acceptance, and inclusive and equity-minded syllabi and teaching philosphies.
The core of my ecological research is grounded in disturbance ecology and community response. I use community analyses to uncover gradients in community structure of lichens. I have participated in extensive floristic inventories of vascular plants in central Colorado, and lichens and bryophytes of northwestern Alaska and various parts of Utah. Most recently, my lab is studying the impact of bark beetle epidemics on forested ecosystems and how these disturbances affect lichen communities.
Publications from 2022 (See Google Scholar for all publications)
Heim, A., Holt, E.A. 2022. Perceived social and academic roles of peer mentors in a pre-health college program. Mentoring & Tutoring, 30(5), 584-605.
Jensen, J., Smith, C.M., Bowers, R., Kaloi, M., Ogden, T.H., Parry, K.A., Payne, J.S., Fife, P., Holt, E.A. 2022. Asynchronous online instruction leads to learning gaps when compared to a flipped classroom. Journal of Science Education and Technology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-022-09988-7.
Heim, A.B., Freundlich, A., Holt, E.A. 2022. A modelling exercise in sexual selection using a student-created bird species. CourseSource, available at: https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.20.
Heim, A., Holt, E. 2022. Staring at signs: Biology undergraduates pay attention to signs more often than animals at the zoo. Curator: The Museum Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/cura.12480.
Heim, A., Duke, J., Holt, E.A. 2022. Design, discover, and decipher: Student developed escape rooms in the virtual ecology classroom. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education. https://journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10.1128/jmbe.00015-22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00015-22.
Dunk, R., Sexton, J., Hinerman, K., Holt, E.A. 2022. Development of the biotic impacts of climate change core concepts (BIC4) framework. Environmental Education Research, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2022.2069682.
Duke, J., Holt, E.A. 2022. Seeing climate change: Psychological distance and connection to nature. Environmental Education Research, 28(7), 949-969.
Heim, A.B., Holt, E.A. 2022. Goal-setting among biology undergraduates during a free-choice learning experience at a regional zoo. Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens, 2, 610-624.
2022 A.M. and Jo Winchester Distinguished Scholar Award
2021 Sears Helgoth Distinguished Teaching Award
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