I am a scientist, environmental educator, and writer passionate about communicating how the world works. I am currently the Program Director at the Natural History Institute in Prescott, AZ, where I use science, art, and the humanities to engage people with the natural world.

I received my Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut in the spring of 2016 and spent two years as a lecturer with the Princeton Writing Program, where I taught a writing seminar on Sensory Communication. Recently, I did environmental education outreach in K-12 classrooms, teaching kids about citizen science as the Program Coordinator of the Supporting Environmental Education and Communities (SEEC) Program, an offshoot of the Community and School Garden Program at the University of Arizona.

My writing has appeared online on National Public Radio’s science blogs Shots, Goats and Soda, and The Salt. I also blog about the intersection between science and poetry at I Spell it Nature and, more recently, for ASU Center for Science and the Imagination’s blog Imaginary Papers. I tweet about science and stuff I find in the woods at @JessieRack.

In my free time, I can usually be found reading or hiking, or daydreaming about doing those things.