Faculty Profiles

Dr. Kristy Daniel has traveled across the globe exploring interactions between nature and culture and sharing science stories. She thrives on pushing colleagues and budding scientists to be thoughtful about how they represent themselves and their science through the language and images used when sharing their passion with others. When scientists talk science, what is intended is not always what is understood. Dr. Daniel has built her academic career around exploring issues causing miscommunications and identifying ways to improve science messaging, particularly in educational settings and when using visuals. Dr. Daniel has coached hundreds of people on how to best become messengers of science as they craft TEDx Talks, 3MT competitions, conference presentations, video tutorials, outreach activities, classroom lesson plans, and research defenses. Her goal is to help make biology more accessible to more people by investigating a three-pillar approach to representation, studying: 1) how people understand and communicate their understandings of visual representations of science; 2) how scientists represent themselves and their science to non-scientists (the public and students); and 3) how we can increase representation within science to broaden participation. She began this pursuit as a biologist, earning a B.A. in Biology and an M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, identifying plants and investigating plant-insect interactions. She continues her journey of becoming a discipline-based educational researcher, earning a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, Science Education – College Teaching, investigating how people learn and communicate phylogenetic biology. Dr. Daniel is now a Full Professor in Biology at Texas State University.

Dr. Daniel’s mentorship philosophy: “I believe that mentorship is best provided through example, and it is my role to provide that example and work towards the best interests of my cultivated research community. I value the philosophy that a mentor works to progressively make him/herself unnecessary.”