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Kevin Smith

Associate Professor of Biology at Davidson College

About me

I am an Associate Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies at Davidson College, where I have been a faculty member since January 2014. Prior to that I worked at Washington University in St. Louis as a research center director and instructor in biology and environmental studies.

My teaching at Davidson focuses on general biology, conservation biology, and data analysis. I am particularly interested in testing and applying new and evidence-based teaching methods in the classroom, especially those that ensure success for the broadest group of students possible.

Data science, data analysis, statistics, and quantitative competency figure prominently in most of the courses I teach, which include Excel and the R programming language. I firmly believe that quantitative and data science skills should be accessible to everyone. As a result, I build my teaching approach on the ideas that every student can succeed in my courses and that it is my job to facilitate student success.