Dr. Monfared is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Molecular and Cellular Biology department. She enjoys doing scholarly research in her classroom and using data from students to see what works and doesn’t work in the classroom. She teaches BIS102 and BIS103 (both Biochemistry courses) regularly. She is also the co-Director of the FUSE program, which provides pedagogy training to graduate students who want to become professors. 

How did you decide to study Biology/pedagogy? 

I enjoyed Biology a lot when I was in high school but I equally loved writing and literature. I felt pressured to have it “all figured out” before I even started college and I glommed on to the idea of medical school. Being pre-med allowed me to follow a pre-determined path and reduced my anxiety in the short term — but I eventually did a lot of self reflection after college and that is when I decided to pursue my interest in research and teaching. 

How have your past experiences prepared you for working at UC Davis/Did you have any other jobs? 

I applied for medical school so that I wouldn’t have a “gap year” but I didn’t get in anywhere. I decided to move to the SF bay area and pursue lab work, which is something I always wanted to do as an undergrad but never got my foot in the door. I worked in the biotech industry for several years (with a sprinkling of other jobs in between) before I went to graduate school. Having that experience in biotech is really helpful for allowing me to have conversations with my students who are interested in exploring that career path. 

What about teaching at UC Davis do you love? 

I love the students. They are kind and collaborative. I feel like they appreciate the effort I put into my classes and I enjoy getting to know them (whether that is personally or through weekly quizzes where I always throw in a random question like: who is the person who makes you laugh the most?)

Besides being a professor, what are some outside hobbies that you enjoy right now? 

I enjoy doing Iyengar yoga and reading. I’m not a very good cook, so my goal right now is to make cooking or baking a hobby. 

What would students be surprised to find out about you?

In high school, I was voted most likely to get kicked out of college. Also, best artist. 

What is the best piece of advice anyone has given you? 

I read this in a horoscope once by the great Rob Brezsny: “Find allies where you can.” It came at a good time because I was really struggling with getting my thesis advisor to like me. I could tell he didn’t think I was doing a good job and I didn’t know how to change his mind. I read that line and realized that I needed to cast my net wider. I realized that other people, like a professor I TA’d for, thought I was amazing. It made me realize that encouraging and positive interactions are everywhere, you just have to be open to them because they might not come from where you expect. Eventually, I also realized that I was relying too much on external validation (probably because of the imposter syndrome that hit me hard in grad school).