Our lab group currently consists of both undergraduate and graduate students. Students who are interested in our research should contact Dr. Sabel for more information. No prior research experience is required for undergraduate students. Ideal graduate student candidates will be those who have earned an undergraduate or master’s degree in biology (or related field) and are interested in pursuing an MS or PhD focused on undergraduate biology education. Our research focuses on the effective use of various classroom learning tools to support undergraduate students in learning biology. Many opportunities exist and the program of study is flexible in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Memphis. Please contact me for more information.
Current Group Members
Graduate Students
Kendra Wright is a Ph.D. student in the Biology program at the University of Memphis. She graduated from the University of Memphis with a B.
A. in biology in December 2019. She conducted research in the Sabel Lab while she was an undergraduate and worked on the Majors Metacognition and CURE projects. Her current research remains connected to the Majors Metacognition project. She is particularly interested in factors that contribute to student success and the ways to best support incoming students to succeed in introductory biology and beyond.
Elizabeth Schriner is a Ph.D. student in the Biology program at the University of Memphis.
Undergraduate Students
Britney Le: senior biology major, working on the Majors Metacognition project.
Alix Kirkendol: junior biology major working on the Majors Metacognition project.
Sedra Sous: junior biology major working on the Systems Thinking project.
Past Group Members
Graduate Students
Kathryn Parsley graduated with a PhD from Biology program at the University of 
Memphis in 2021. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Cameron University in Lawton, OK and her M.S. in Biology from Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. Her master’s degree focused on developing a lecture and lab curriculum about invasive species and testing its effect on student knowledge of and attitudes toward invasives. Her dissertation was titled Exploring New Approaches to the Problem of Plant Awareness Disparity in Undergraduate Students. This work focused on characterizing how students think and developing instruments to measure Plant Awareness Disparity (formerly known as plant blindness) and botanical literacy in undergraduate biology students. You can learn more about her work at www.kathrynmparsley.com
Undergraduate Students
Majors Metacognition project: Kristian Meyers, Patrice Buckley, Rand Alqirem, Kendra Wright (current PhD student), Nicole Lelis, Boston Simmons, Cynthia DeOchoa, Farrah Altamimi, LaDell LaFlora, Makenzie Chapmen, Asia White, Flor Salazar, Keimora Wright, Ryne Vinson
Plant Awareness Disparity project (led by Kathryn Parsley): Tiara Blanco, Sarah Baker, Kristi Brownlee, Kyle Gay, Eman Yonis, Summer Jasper, Ashley Vue
Nonmajors Reflection project: Patrice Buckley, Katlyn Morris
Enzyme Modeling for Introductory Biology Students project: Em Micer
Sabel Lab Student Awards
Kristi Brownlee (undergraduate) won first place in the undergraduate poster competition at the national conference for the National Association for Biology Teachers (NABT) in 2019.
Alixandra Kirkendol (undergraduate) received a University of Memphis Honors Summer Fellowship to conduct research on metacognition and student understanding in 2022.
Nicole Lelis (undergraduate) won 2nd place in the undergraduate poster competition at the University of Memphis Student Research Forum in 2019.
Em Micer (undergraduate)
- Received the 2021 Biological Sciences Faculty Award, recognizing the undergraduate biology major who made the most significant contribution to the department during the 2020-2021 academic year.
- Won 1st place in the undergraduate Education category of the 2021 University of Memphis Student Research Forum in 2021
- Received a University of Memphis Honors Summer Fellowship to conduct research on chemistry and biology student understanding in 2020.
Kathryn Parsley (PhD student)
- Awarded grant from the Center for Biodiversity at the University of Memphis to hire a student for summer research in 2020.
- Selected as a Plantae Fellow through the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) in 2019
- Won 2nd place in the graduate student poster competition at the annual National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) conference in 2019.
- Awarded grant from the Center for Biodiversity at the University of Memphis: Exploring the effects of plant-related socioscientific issues and decision making on undergraduate plant blindness and functional botanical literacy in 2019.
Kendra Wright (PhD student) awarded grant from the Cell Biology Education Consortium for research on CUREs.