Crystal Uminski

Turnip the cat sitting on a turntable playing a copy of “Cat on a Hot Tin Horn”

Cat on a Cat on a Hot Tin Horn

A gray cat named Turnip sitting next to a print from Andy Warhol’s “25 Cats Name Sam”

25 Cats Name Sam and One Gray Turnip

Crystal in a blue outfit presenting a poster at the NABT conference

A colleague told me I’m the “Elton John of DBER” and I can’t think of a higher compliment

Crystal and a cast of the Lucy skull

Celebrating Halloween at a biology teacher conference with some spooky scary skeletons 💀

Crystal in a pink blazer in front of pink wallpaper

I’m in a new city for NABT, so that means new opportunities to color coordinate! My conference outfit matched the hotel hallway!

Turnip the cat with his tongue sticking out

A little fella looking for snacks

YouTube video by Galactic Polymath Marine Biologists come from Iowa too!—#MySciJourney with Sea Anemones

Check out some cool science (and great science communication) happening at @towsonu.bsky.social!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQ9C...

Josh's video is part of a sci-comm competition sponsored by @galacticpolymath.com. If you learned something new by watching, please "Like" the video on YouTube!

A copy of the Talking Heads album “Remain in Light” and a canvas painted to resemble the album cover that features cats instead of the band members.

Meow in Light

A gray cat named Turnip who is outdoors among fallen leaves

A little fella enjoying the Fall

DEADLINE EXTENDED to Oct. 12!✨

I don't need to tell you that public support is crucial to sustaining science. #SciComm has never been more important, so don’t miss this chance to give the public a window into how science really works—and why it works so well. Join the #MySciJourney Challenge!

Crystal with a certificate for the Elizabethtown College Honors Program Outstanding Young Alumni Award

I’m delighted to be back on the Elizabethtown campus to receive the Honors Outstanding Young Alumni Award!

Turnip, a gray cat, sitting in front of a TV showing a scene from American Utopia. In the scene, David Byrne holds a model of a human brain.

Turnip is getting a lesson about neuroplasticity from David Byrne 🧠

To appreciate the power & promise of science, people need a deeper understanding of the _processes_ of science. Join the #MySciJourney Challenge to show the world what “doing science” looks like for you! Scientists at all stages are invited to submit their short videos by September 30.

It doesn't have the fun animations like on the DNA Landscape website, but we do have some ideas about how to teach and draw alleles in this paper!

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

We do a small bit about alleles in the "Beta Globin" tab (all the animations are in the context of the HBB gene that makes beta globin), but we don't have any spiffy animations specifically of alleles.

I'm teaching about the structure of DNA, genes, and chromosomes. If you're in the same boat, consider bringing the DNA Landscape into your class! It can be tricky to "see" how representations of DNA are related, so we created animations to make it more visible! sites.google.com/view/dnaland...

I love the idea of a Science Library! What a great way to make science accessible! (Also, the way this one is painted is perfect! 🦑)

Crystal standing in front of a framed poster of David Byrne

A new office on campus means new places to hang up David Byrne art

A gray cat named Turnip sitting on top of a turntable playing a copy of David Byrne’s “Who Is The Sky”

Turnip has some opinions about the new David Byrne album

A gray cat named Delilah on a harnessed leash. Delilah is standing in a small shrub.

Delilah is a little adventurer 🌿

A gray cat next to a cat-themed painting of the Talking Heads album “Speaking in Tongues”

Speaking in Meows

Crystal standing in front of a sign for Towson University

Dreams walking in broad daylight! These Talking Heads lyrics best capture what I’m feeling as I’m starting as a tenure-track professor at Towson University! @towsonu.bsky.social

I’m gonna keep on dancing at the Pink Poodle Club 🐩

Turnip the cat painted as Mike D of Beastie Boys

Mike D of Beastie Boys

Turnip: Beastie Boys edition.

Turnip the cat painted wearing David Byrne’s Big Suit from Stop Making Sense

David Byrne in Stop Making Sense

Tonight’s painting: Turnip in the David Byrne Big Suit 🎨

I perused published figures and found misshaped chromosomes, mismatched chromatids, and missized genes! Yikes!

Representing chromosomes and genes can be a tricky task, so I published ideas for easy edits to figures that can mitigate misconceptions.

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

A painting of Turnip the cat surrounded by turnips

An evening painting root vegetables and a cat named after them 🎨

Crystal standing in front of the title slide for a presentation "Biology exams rarely use visual models to engage higher-order cognitive skills"

Crystal standing in front of the Prince Symbol sculpture at Paisley Park

I try to explore each city I travel to for conferences. This year, I attended SABER in Minneapolis to present research on how visual models are used on biology exams and I adventured to Prince's Paisley Park!

What a beautiful little adventure cat! (And a great name for him too! ☕️)

Crystal with a book titled Mitosis and Meiosis

I’m attending a science communication education research meeting and found the perfect book in a local bookstore for the occasion! I study models of chromosomes and this 1960s educational book is filled with fascinating illustrations of chromosomes in mitosis and meiosis models!