A broadly trained invertebrate biologist who teaches introductory courses in Marine Biology, she is particularly interested in how students develop quantitative literacy skills, how they solve complex problems in marine sciences, and what teaching practices best support that learning. She is a Fellow in the national Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education, working to reform undergraduate life sciences education. Before coming to UMaine, Sara was a postdoc at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, an NIH National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellow at the University of South Carolina, completed her PhD in Biology at the University of South Carolina, and her B.A at Smith College.