Teaching
Courses taught
Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park (2018–present)
- Insect Biodiversity: The Good, The Bad and The Weird (HONR208D; teaching assistant)
- Aquatic Entomology (ENTM667; teaching assistant)
Biology Department, Grand View University (2016–2017)
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati (2010–2014)
Department of Zoology, Herzen State University, St. Petersburg, Russia (2002–2009)
- Invertebrate Zoology (laboratory, field course; 2002–2003; instructor)
- Introductory Biology (lectures, laboratory; 2003–2006; instructor, docent)
- General Biology (lectures; 2003–2005; instructor, docent)
- Animal Ecology (lectures, laboratory; 2003–2009; instructor, docent)
- Animal Behavior (lectures; 2004; instructor)
- Ecology (lectures, laboratory, field course; 2005–2007; docent)
- Human Ecology (lectures; 2007; docent)
- Bioindication (lectures; 2008; docent)
Courses developed
Department of Zoology, Herzen State University, St. Petersburg, Russia
Mentoring undergraduate students
In 2003 I started teaching a course on Animal Ecology. Since then, I’ve supervised the research of
several undergraduate students, including short projects (as a part of their independent research),
as well as their final theses (a Diploma in Russian academia).
Some of the popular focus areas of such projects included the effect of anthropogenic factors on the
morphology and diversity of freshwater snails; soil mesofauna under anthropogenic press; and
population characteristics of aquatic invertebrates.
The main idea of these projects was to study the level of ecological contamination on the territory
of North-West region of Russia. We collected invertebrates on the territory of our Department’s
field station (located in the south-west of St.Petersburg Region) and nearby water reservoirs.
Students learned how to identify organisms, conduct simple morphometric measurements, and apply
basic biomonitoring methods. …more
information
Conference Presentations
- Berendzen, P.B., J.D. Ophus and A.V. Avanesyan. (2007) A cross-cultural study of students’ understanding of evolution. The nature of science and their need for cognition. X Russian-American Conference: Modern Concepts in Higher Education. Herzen State University, St. Petersburg, Russia. Oral presentation
- Gvozdev, M.A. and A.V. Avanesyan. (2006) Bioethical aspects of the development of aquaculture in Russia. Annual Scientific Conference: Problems of biology and ecology training under the modernization of higher education, Herzen State University of Russia, Saint-Petersburg. November 2006. Oral presentation
Invited Talks
- Avanesyan A. (2008). Biology education in Russia. Departmental research seminar. Biology Department, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA.
Non Peer-Reviewed Publications
