Robert Erdmann, Ph.D.

Education

B.S., Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Ph.D., Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Teaching at UMR
As an educator, I view it as my responsibility to create an inclusive, interactive, and captivating classroom by providing opportunities for every student in the class to thoughtfully engage with scientific reasoning and concepts. I teach courses in the realms of biology, data analytics, and everything in between, and I aim to provide UMR students with the tools, skills, and habits of mind necessary to feel empowered as the field of health sciences becomes more data intensive every day.

Research
As a STEM education researcher with a bioinformatics background, I often use methods inspired by quantitative biology to explore the inner workings of the classroom.

One focus of my research program involves elucidating the specific aspects of instructor and student behaviors that lead to learning gains within active learning classrooms. I am developing the “Classroom as Genome” methodology, which utilizes the tools of genomics to enable explorations of the fine-grained patterns within classroom video recordings.

Another focus of my research is the intersection between student identity, components of the learning environment, and academic equity. For instance, I am utilizing data mining approaches to assess how various grading policies relate to equity in student outcomes. The ultimate goal of this work is to aid STEM instructors in their efforts to design assessment practices that facilitate equitable and successful learning outcomes for the entire population of students we serve.