General Overview

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” —Antoine de Saint-Exupery

My research group is built around investigating the evolution of complex phenotypes. Selecting a graduate program and an advisor is a complicated, individual personal and professional decision. In the set of pages linked at the left, I provide an introduction to my philosophy and approach to teaching and mentorship, my teaching and mentorship history, and a few links to somewhat atypical teaching resources. These, in addition to the webpages describing my research program, should give you an idea of how I approach advising; after looking over these pages, feel free to send me an email at frankino@uh.edu if you think you might be interested in joining my group. In that introductory email, be sure to state your broad and more specific biological interests, and why you find my group in particular attractive.

Advisement & Mentorship

An academic path can be challenging, but it should be enjoyable and rewarding. Central to a successful student research experience is selecting a mentor that is a good fit for your training and growth goals, and your personality. I take the responsibility of advisement seriously, and have outlined my perspective and approach to mentorship in the Prospective Students page. There you will also find links to general resources regarding how to pick a graduate program, select an advisor, and how to get the most out of an undergraduate or graduate research experience in any lab.

Science, Science Education, and Society

My goals for science education, and the approaches I used to achieve these, are outlined on my teaching page. Student inspiration is central to a successful science education program. The sites linked at left all inspire in one way or another - by presenting complex data in new, often beautiful, and engaging ways, by providing fun, goal-directed, creative problem solving or investigative (science) projects, by using unconventional approaches to convey scientific principles, or by exploring how science is affected by the complex relationships among the scientific community, research universities, industry, local/state/and national governments, politics, advocacy groups, and the tentative nature of science itself. They also promote interactions among people through shared web experiences, group projects, and community discussion of topical issues.