Education
Ph.D., Biology, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, 2023
B.S., Biology Education, Elizabethtown College, 2016
Crystal Uminski, PhD
she/her/hers
Assistant Professor
Areas of Expertise
Biology education
Educational assessment
Visual literacy in biology
Biography
Dr. Crystal Uminski is an assistant professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University. She is a discipline-based education researcher and her research focuses on assessment and visual literacy in biology. Dr. Uminski graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology Education from Elizabethtown College in 2016. She received a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln, where she worked with Dr. Brian Couch to study assessments in introductory biology courses.
Dr. Uminski conducted postdoctoral research at Rochester Institute of Technology with Dr. Dina Newman and Dr. L. Kate Wright. Her postdoctoral work examined how students think about visual representations of DNA. Dr. Uminski’s interest in biology education research stemmed from her experiences teaching high school biology and developing standardized science assessments at the Educational Testing Service. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies and doting on her cats, Delilah and Turnip.
Research
- Biology education
- Discipline-based education
Teaching
- BIOL 120: Principles of Biology Lecture
- BIOL 120L: Principles of Biology Lab