Faculty

Chantale Bégin

Professor of Instruction

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CONTACT
Tampa campus
Office: SCA 329
Phone: (813) 974-7325

Email: cbegin@usf.edu

Specialty Area Teaching Area

Conservation & Disease, Marine Biology, Pedagogy & Education

Research Key Words: marine ecology, conservation, coral reefs, pedagogy

 BSC 2011 Biological Diversity

EDUCATION
Ph.D. Biology, Simon Fraser University, 2012
M.Sc. Biology, Université Laval, 2002
B.Sc. Marine Biology, Dalhousie University, 2000

TEACHING
BSC 2011 Biological Diversity: I teach Biological Diversity more than any other course at USF. I really enjoy this course because we touch on so many interesting topics that are really important as a foundation to a degree in biology.

Biological Diversity can be a bit daunting as it’s a large class and it’s often the first or second biology course students take in their degree, and I enjoy helping students get started in the right way. BSC 3362C Tropical Marine Ecology and Conservation: I teach this intensive field course in the Caribbean every May.

It’s really fun to teach students the field skills needed to carry out research and monitoring projects on coral reefs, including species identification, common survey types, and scientific diving techniques. BSC 4937 Seminar in Marine Biology: This discussion-based course is a great way to review various important concepts in marine biology, and dive into the primary literature to really understand how marine biologists carry out their research. Students learn to think critically about what they read, and improve their scientific communication skills.

RESEARCH
Prior to arriving at USF, my research interests have centered broadly on marine ecology. My first forays into research were in temperate intertidal zones and kelp forests of Canada and New England. Eventually my PhD work took me to the Eastern Caribbean, were I studied the impact of changing land use and increased sedimentation on coral reefs. My role here at USF focuses on teaching so I have limited time for research these days.

I still carry out some research on Caribbean coral reef ecology and conservation, as well as some discipline-based education research which helps understand the best ways to teach our biology courses in order to maximize student learning.

I do not supervise graduate students but sometimes have undergraduate researchers or Honors students work with me on some of these projects.