Learn the basics for encouraging wildlife in your own backyard and contributing to scientific data right from your garden. Questions answered include ‘what is a habitat’, and what makes a ‘wildlife-friendly garden’. We will explore the concept of citizen science and how the general public, even the novice gardener, can contribute to scientific research. Our course will culminate with the opportunity to contribute to a citizen science project monitoring birds that visit our green spaces.

Ms. Neeti Bathala, Ph.D. - Faculty, Rosemont College - Author and Garden Speaker

Dr. Bathala brings almost two decades of experience in higher education, teaching Ecology and Environmental Sciences at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She is currently on the faculty at Rosemont College, and teaches courses in Sustainability and Environmental Studies for both the Undergraduate College and the Schools of Graduate and Professional Studies.

An ecologist by training, Dr. Bathala has participated in numerous local and global conservation projects. Her research has brought her across the world biomes - from monitoring bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean to studying carbon storage in Alaska’s boreal forests. In addition to having a Certificate in Tropical Conservation Biology, Dr. Bathala has participated in multiple National Science Foundation courses for University professors and has studied marine communities in Belize, Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands.

Outside of her academic pursuits, Neeti is an award-winning author and continues to develop educational children’s books on environmental subjects and marine ecosystems and species. Her 2017 publication Moonlight Crab Count won the Children’s Book Council and Science Teachers Association, Outstanding Science Trade Book for 2018 and was selected for the 2021 Children’s Book Reading List for Social Activism. Dr. Bathala is deeply committed to projects encouraging STEM, particularly for women in the sciences.

As an author, speaker, and educator, Neeti is involved in community public education on environmental issues. A former recipient of the Garden Club of New Jersey scholarship, she stays active in the region’s horticultural and garden societies.  Dr. Bathala lectures widely as a garden speaker and teaches workshops on ecological gardening and sustainable planting within a home landscape. She spends her summers in Cape May County, NJ, where she volunteers on a variety of coastal conservation projects.

Dr. Bathala is on the Board of Directors of the Clean Air Council in Philadelphia. She also remains active with her alma mater, Duke University, where she serves as a member of the Board of Advisors at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. Dr. Bathala is also an alumni mentor for students in Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment graduate program.