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Photo of Kukday, Sayali

Sayali Kukday

Teaching Professor

Biological Sciences

Email:

skukday@uic.edu

About

I am a scientist and educator that is passionate about:

  • facilitating active learning in my courses using evidence-based strategies including collaborative, problem-based, game-based, and case study-based learning while students explore the fascinating world of genetics.
  • conducting education research that informs teaching practices and/or can lead to teaching reform. Some past and current projects include studying the impact of collaboration on student sense of belonging, measuring societal educational debts to students with minoritized identities, instructor perceptions of discussions about race, racism, and racial equity in undergraduate biology courses, and mentoring instructors to develop teaching case studies.
  • mentoring students and colleagues across the nation thereby nurturing the STEM garden.

My goal is to build STEM learning environments that honor and nurture a multitude of backgrounds and experiences in science.

Courses taught:

BIOS 220 Genetics

Selected Publications

  • Scheuermann NL, Idlebird C, Kukday S, McCracken VJ, Bradley RE, and Bergan-Roller H. 2024. University Biology Classrooms as Spaces for Anti-racist Work: Instructor Motivations for Incorporating Race, Racism, and Racial Equity Content. CBE Life Sciences Education. 23 (4):ar61.
  • Nissen J, Van Dusen BC, and Kukday S. 2024. Society’s educational debts due to racism, sexism, and classism in introductory biology student learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 62(5): 1266-1297.
  • Kukday S, Frohn E, Paige A. 2022. Metastatic mastery: A case and game-based approach to learning about cancer mechanisms. CourseSource. https://doi.org/10.24918/cs.2022.23
  • Segura-Totten M, Dewsbury B, Lo SM, Bailey EG, Beaster-Jones L, Bills RJ, Brownell SE, Caporale N, Dunk R, Eddy SL, García-Ojeda ME, Gardner SM, Green LE, Hartley L, Harrison C, Imad M, Janosik AM, Jeong S, Josek T, Kadandale P, Knight J, Ko ME, Kukday S, Lemons P, Litster M, Lom B, Ludwig P, McDonald KK, McIntosh ACS, Menezes S, Nadile EM, Newman SL, Ochoa SD, Olabisi O, Owens MT, Price RM, Reid JW, Ruggeri N, Sabatier C, Sabel JL, Sato BK, Smith-Keiling BL, Tatapudy SD, Theobald EJ, Tripp B, Pradhan M, Venkatesh MJ, Wilton M, Warfa AM, Wyatt BN and Raut SA. 2021. Chronicling the Journey of the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER) in its Effort to Become Antiracist: From Acknowledgement to Action. Frontiers in Education. 6:780401. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.780401
  • Kukday S. 2021. Building a connected community within a course. Teaching Brief. ISU Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching.
  • Kukday S. and Schmidt W. 2013. The yeast M16A peptidases Axl1p and Ste23p. Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes, 3rd edition, Oxford Academic Press: 1430-1434.
  • Kukday S1, Manandhar S1, Ludley M, Burriss M, Alper B and Schmidt W. 2012. Cell permeable, small molecule activators of the insulin-degrading enzyme. Journal of Biomolecular Screening. 17(10): 1349-1362.

Professional Leadership

Member-At-Large, Executive Committee, National Institute on Scientific Teaching (NIST)

Chair, 4-year College & University Section, National Association for Biology Teachers (NABT)

Co-chair, FALCoN organizing team, NIST

Education

B.S., Life Sciences and Biochemistry, K.C. College, Mumbai, India, 2005
M.S., Biochemistry, The Institute of Science, Mumbai, India, 2007
Ph.D., Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 2012