Dr. Sara Teemer Richards
IGC FELLOW GRADUATE | Global Change Center
VT GRADUATE May 2025 • Biological Sciences
Research Interests: Disease ecology, animal behavior, and science communication
Advisor: Dr. Dana Hawley
steemer@vt.edu
Sara successfully defended her doctoral dissertation in January of 2025.
Sara completed her B.S. in Biology Education from DePaul University in 2016. During that time, she conducted research on development and site preference in the parasitic copepod Naobranchia lizae in its fish host, the striped mullet. As an educator and ecologist-in-training, she went on to publish this work in two peer-reviewed journals and presented at numerous local and regional conferences. Sara regularly combines her passion for biology and education and has held roles with the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and the Lake County Forest Preserves.
Following her undergraduate studies, Sara earned an M.S. in Biology from DePaul in 2019. Her thesis explored the relationship between the parasite Acanthocephalus dirus and its hosts, and how the effects of development and intraspecific conflict influenced transmission of the parasite. In addition to her research, she served as a teaching assistant for over one dozen undergraduate courses, including ecology, biostatistics, field studies in marine and estuarine biology, and vertebrate physiology.
As a Ph.D. student, Sara worked at the intersection of animal behavior, disease ecology, and conservation biology. Her dissertation investigated the role of ambient temperature on mechanisms of disease transmission in wild house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus). This interdisciplinary research deepened her experience in communicating science across diverse audiences—including collaborators in other fields, funding agencies, and the public. Supported by nearly $68,000 in internal and external funding, including the IGC Global Change Fellowship, her work has resulted in multiple peer-reviewed publications and more than two dozen presentations, including award-winning talks and invited presentations at both DePaul and Virginia Tech.
Sara is especially committed to advancing equity and accessibility in science and believes that audience-specific, effective science communication is essential to fostering inclusion. In her dedication to this mission, she co-created a free science communication podcast, I Can SciComm, as her IGC capstone project; served on the Virginia Tech Communicating Science Advisory Board; organized a regional science communication conference; and led communication workshops across the university. These workshops have helped fellow scientists, students, and future educators overcome fear of public speaking, tell stories through science, and make scientific knowledge more accessible—skills that she will continue to champion as critical for meaningful engagement and public trust in science.
Last updated in May of 2025.