It is not uncommon for CSI students to graduate and move on to bigger and better things, and Jarrod Santora is no exception. Santora is a bit different, however, because he has decided to return to campus to teach and conduct research while he pursues his PhD in Biology (Ecology, Evolutionary Biology, and Behavior) at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Santora graduated from CSI in 2000 with a Bachelor's degree in Biology. He says that his CSI education helped to prepare him for graduate school, but above all, he appreciated the many opportunities to conduct hands-on research, "rather than just be a student and go to school and go home afterwards." As he pursued his bachelor's degree, he worked in Biology professor, Dr. Richard Veit's laboratory, and he is still there today continuing his research with him.

In fact, Santora had the unique opportunity to get his hands dirty, and cold, when he accompanied Veit and other CSI students and faculty members on a recent research trip to Antarctica to study the dynamics between bird populations and their prey sources, among other things. "It was by far the most beautiful place on Earth--a sort of repetitive nature there," Santora explains. "You can just sit back and watch it all" Here in New York City, Santora studies local bird populations and how human encroachment affects them. In Antarctica, "it was a completely different world, so it was a good bipolar experience." He notes that the trip netted him "a tremendous amount of data" from which he hopes to glean some findings by the end of this semester.

Besides research, Santora has gained exposure to another type of hands-on experience at CSI--teaching classes. Even before he graduated from CSI, Santora was co-teaching classes in the College's Immersion Program, which provides assistance to students with low placement exam scores. Later, he gained some teaching experience at CSI's Discovery Center, and he taught lab classes for high school students. "Once I graduated," he recalls, "I wanted to keep on teaching, so I applied for a teaching fellowship that paid my tuition and also gave me more opportunities to teach different levels of classes. I've been teaching here for the past two years, as well as going to graduate school." He is now an Adjunct Professor in Biology at CSI, as well as a Graduate Assistant.

Santora teaches a wide range of courses, from the ground-level Introduction to Biology (BIO 101) through upper-level courses like Ecology (BIO 360), which he co-teaches. He states that the introductory-level classes are the most rewarding because he likes "to take students who have a fresh mind toward science and give them a really concise, boiled down view of the whole idea of biology rather than them getting really turned off by science. I like to teach more introductory courses," he adds, "because I like to make [biology] available to a wider audience and I tend to get a good bunch of students in those classes."

Having had the chance to experience both sides of the classroom, which side does Santora prefer? "I sort of like being in both situations because I think one feeds the other," he says. "One of the reasons why I feel that I've gotten so much done in the last few years is that I have been teaching as well as taking classes, so it gives me a real mature attitude about how to develop my thoughts and work on my ideas."

Santora has two more years to go to receive his PhD. After that, he plans to pass his knowledge and expertise on to others by continuing the teaching career that he began at CSI.