Asha Marcelle Brunings

Information

My name is Asha Marcelle Brunings and I'm your guide on this exciting journey into the world of tiny life forms: Microbiology.

Even before I started working at Santa Fe College I immersed myself in the science of teaching. I continually improve my teaching skills by implementing modern, evidence-based strategies to help students learn. This involves guiding students to take responsibility for their own learning, and helping them to become lifelong learners. The more students interact with the course material -whether it's watching videos, engaging in debates on social media, or reading news articles related to microbiology- the better.

Students in my courses will find themselves really busy throughout the semester, but every activity and assignment was designed to help students learn. Whether students are visual, auditory, kinetic, or any other type of learner, they will find material presented in a manner that suits their learning style. Students should keep in mind that no single approach is enough. Engaged students find microbiology not only fun, but easy too! Well..., less difficult, anyway. Although many students may simply want to pass this course, my goal is for students to learn the main concepts forever.

Education

I earned a Bachelor's degree in Agronomy, a Masters' degree in Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology, and a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology. For both my Masters' and Ph.D. degrees I worked on microorganisms, a bacterial pathogen for my Masters' degree, and a fungal pathogen for my Ph.D. degree. You'd be surprised how similar pathogens of plants are to pathogens of people!

In between each of my degrees I was employed as a researcher, and after my Ph.D. I joined Dr. Kevin Folta's Plant Molecular Biology lab as a postdoctoral scientist. Coming from a family of educators, I started teaching part-time, and eventually became a full-time instructor at Santa Fe College. I love it here!! I enjoy teaching, and interacting with students as well as the dedicated faculty and staff here at the college. I still like research, and I will continue to do science as well as teach it.