Jennifer Osterhage

Research Interests:
Metacognition
Motivation​​​
Education

B.S. in Biology from the University of Kentucky, 2002

Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University, 2007

Graduate Teaching Certificate awarded from Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching, 2007

Postdoctoral Training, University of Kentucky, 2010-2011

Graduate Certificate in Research Methods in Education, 2022

Research

I am interested in understanding and promoting evidence-based strategies to help students succeed in introductory biology. I am also intersted in understanding the motivational profiles of students in introductory biology courses.

Graduate Training

As a graduate student, I studied the molecular mechanisms that maintain telomeres (the protein-DNA complexes at the ends of linear chromosomes) in the lab of Dr. Katherine Friedman. I used the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae to investigate the cell-cycle regulation of telomerase, the enzyme that maintains telomeres. I also participated in the Teaching Certificate Program offered through Vanderbilt's Center for Teaching. I completed courses in pedagogy and gained experience teaching and performing education research. In 2007, I graduated from the program with a Graduate Teaching Certificate.

Teaching

I have taught BIO 148 (Introductory Biology I) to over 5000 students. I truly enjoy being in the classroom and having the opportunity to share my love of biology with students. I use an active learning approach which involves demonstrations, activities, and interactive questioning during class. I'm dedicated to first-year student success and helping students successfully transition to college. 

Selected Publications:

Osterhage, Jennifer. (2021). Persistent Miscalibration for High and Low Achievers Despite Practice Test Feedback in an Introductory Biology Course. Journal of Microbiology and Biology Education 22(2). https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00139-21

Osterhage, Jennifer L, Ellen L. Usher, Trisha A. Douin, and William M. Bailey. (2019). Opportunities for Self-evaluation Increase Student Calibration in an Introductory Biology Course. CBE: Life Sciences

Education. 18 (2). Article 16

 

Osterhage, Jennifer (2018). "Ten First Years," Greater Faculties: A Review of Teaching and Learning: Vol. 2, Article 2.

Osterhage, Jennifer, and Katherine L. Friedman.  Chromosome End Maintenance by Telomerase. J Biol Chem. 284(24):16061-5 (2009).

Osterhage, Jennifer, Jennell Talley, and Katherine L. Friedman.  Proteasome-dependent degradation of Est1p regulates the cell cycle-restricted assembly of telomerase in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology 13(8), 720-728 (2006).

Vimoksalehi Lukoschek, Jennifer Osterhage, Daryl R. Karns, John C. Murphy, and Harold K. Voris. Phylogeography of the Mekong mud snake (Enhydris subtaeniata): the biogeographic importance of dynamic river drainages and fluctuating sea levels for semi-aquatic taxa in Indo-China. Ecology and Evolution 1(3), 330-42 (2011).

Karns, Daryl R., Vimoksalehi Lukoschek, Jennifer Osterhage, John Murphy, and Harold Voris. Phylogeny and biogeography of the Enhydris clade (Serpentes: Homalopsidae). Zootaxa 2452, 18-30. ISSN 1175-5334 (2010).