I’m curious about the natural world and our place within it. My research interests broadly fall into three categories:
- The evolution of parental feeding and care strategies among extant and extinct vertebrates
- Growth, development, and metabolic records of vertebrate teeth
- Science education, experiential learning in science, and disability accessibility in science fields
Parental feeding and care strategies
- What is parental care?
- What drives the evolution of parental care in vertebrates?
- What factors might lead to the selection of lactation (milk) or other nutrient production by parents (matrotrophy)?


Tooth development, growth, and metabolic records
- How do teeth grow and develop?
- What patterns of whole dental growth and morphology do we see in various vertebrate groups, and why?
- How is dental development related to other tissue types that rely on epidermal-mesenchymal signaling?
- Teeth are amazing storytellers. What evidence can teeth provide for ancient metabolisms, diets, and environments?
Science Education and Accessibility
- Which learning outcomes, outreach efforts, and modalities allow students to access science in an equitable way?
- What impact does experiential or outdoor education have on student perception of science and science experiences?
- How does disability accessibility pedagogy in a science class shift student thinking on diversity, equity, and inclusion?

Want to learn more? Feel free to contact me at tlepore@berkeley.edu, or on Twitter.
Twitter feed is not available at the moment.