Liz is an Associate Professor at Middle Tennessee State University in the Department of Biology. She was trained as a Discipline-Based Education Researcher with a focus in Biology Education. She is most interested in studying how to effectively teach and communicate about controversial science topics using principles from social sciences so that we can mitigate polarization about these topics in society. She started in higher education as a first-generation and low-income student at a community college. She earned her Ph.D. in Biology as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow at Arizona State University, studying how to reduce tension between religion and evolution. She now runs the Social Perceptions of Science lab at Middle Tennessee State University, where she studies how to use and teach conflict-reducing practices in undergraduate biology. Liz's research has been highlighted in Scientific American, the Smithsonian, and BBC radio.