Emily Holt

PhD, Oregon State University, 2007
Area of Study: Botany and Plant Pathology

MS, University of Wyoming, 2002
Area of Study: Botany

BA, Colorado College, 1998
Area of Study: Biology

Professor, University of Northern Colorado
Biological Sciences (2022 – Present)

Associate Professor, University of Northern Colorado
(2016 – 2022)

Assistant Professor, Utah Valley University
(2011 – 2016)

Adjunct Assistant Professor/ Lecturer, Utah State University
(2008 – 2011)

Areas of Interest

I am a biology education researcher and plant community ecologist. The central themes of my bioeducation research is climate change education and measuring the learner-centeredness and equity-mindedness of undergraduate biology classes. The bioeducation scholarship in my lab investigates interventions to address the psychological distance of climate change and raise awareness of social injustice in ecology fields. My lab has also developed and compared several research instruments to explore climate change understanding, evolution acceptance, and inclusive and equity-minded syllabi and teaching philosphies.

The core of my ecological research is grounded in disturbance ecology and community response. I use community analyses to uncover gradients in community structure of lichens. I have participated in extensive floristic inventories of vascular plants in central Colorado, and lichens and bryophytes of northwestern Alaska and various parts of Utah. Most recently, my lab is studying the impact of bark beetle epidemics on forested ecosystems and how these disturbances affect lichen communities.

• Meadows, L., Reveles-Hernandez, A., Erskine, R., Holt, E. (2025). Range extension of Logfia arvensis: Long-distance dispersal with a little help from us? Phytoneuron, 3, 1-8. https://www.phytoneuron.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/03PhytoN-Logfiadispersal.pdf
• Dunk, R., Hinerman, K., Duke, J., Heim, A., Holt, E. (2025). Trends in topics, use, and development procedures of biology concept inventories. BioScience. https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biaf022/8115950?utm_source=advanceaccess&utm_campaign=bioscience&utm_medium=email. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biaf022
• Royse, E., Kriescher, D., Pugh, K., Holt, E. (2025). Anatomy and Physiology beyond “This is Interesting”: Assessing transformative experiences through Epistemic Network Analysis. Journal of Science Education and Technology. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10956-025-10228-x?utm_source=rct_congratemailt&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nonoa_20250430&utm_content=10.1007/s10956-025-10228-x.  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-025-10228-x
• Sanchez, K. A., Bevan Zientek, A. J., Holt, E. (2025). Social justice awareness in the undergraduate ecology classroom. Ecosphere, 16(3), e70151. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.70151
• Duke, J. R., Trump, A., Bretfeld, M., Kozlovsky, D., & Holt, E. A. (2025). From Humans to Ecosystems: An Undergraduate Activity Exploring Localized Climate Change. The American Biology Teacher, 87(4-5), 276-285.
• Holt, E. A., Duke, J., Dunk, R., & Hinerman, K. (2024). Development of the inventory of biotic climate literacy (IBCL). Environmental Education Research, 30(12), 2210–2227. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2024.2314047
• Sanchez, K. A., Bevan, A. J., Vita, A. A., Royse, E. A., Januszkiewicz, E., & Holt, E. A. (2023). Grit matters to biology doctoral students’ perception of barriers to degree completion. Journal of Biological Education, 58(5), 1262–1285. https://doi.org/10.1080/00219266.2023.2192731
• Meadows, L. A., Bernard, M., Clabaugh-Howell, K., Duke, J., Irvin, L., Mayo, L., & Holt, E. A. (2023). Inclusive-Equity Rubric and its Evaluation of Introductory Biology Course Syllabi. College Teaching, 72(4), 292–311. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2023.2201670
• Holt, E. A., Sung, R. J., & Lo, S. M. (2024, September). I’m not half and half: navigating being a “both” in discipline-based education research. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 9, p. 1354621). Frontiers Media SA.
• Royse EA, Pullen NA, Cogswell A, Holt EA.2024.A scoping review of undergraduate anatomy and physiology education: approaches to evaluating student outcomes in the United States. J Microbiol Biol Educ.25:e00011-24. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00011-24
• Holt, E. A., & Duke, J. (2024). A review of Mark Windschitl’s Teaching Climate
  Change. Science Education, 108(4), 1222–1227. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21872
• Duke J, Holt EA.2024.Place-based climate change: lowering students’ psychological distance through a classroom activity. J Microbiol Biol Educ.25:e00168-23. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.00168-23
• Barnes, M.E., Aini, R.Q., Collins, J.P. et al. Evaluating the current state of evolution acceptance instruments: a research coordination network meeting report. Evo Edu Outreach 17, 1 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12052-024-00194-0
• Clabaugh Howell, K., & Holt, E. A. (2024). Student reasonings and cognitive biases in climate change predictions. Science Education, 108, 86–106. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21826
• Sanchez, K. A., Benedict, L., & Holt, E. A. (2023). Landscape composition is a stronger determinant than noise and light of avian community structure in an urbanizing county. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 11, 1254280.
• Holt, E. A. (2023). Developing the Acceptance of Climate Change Scale for Undergraduate Students. NSF Award Number 2313967. Directorate for STEM Education, 23(2313967), 13967.
• Duke, Jessica R., and Emily A. Holt. 2023. “ Connection to Nature: A Student Perspective.” Ecosphere 14(10): e4677. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.4677
• Duncan, V. L., Holt, E. A., & Keenan, S. M. (2023, September). Creating an equitable and inclusive STEM classroom: a qualitative meta-synthesis of approaches and practices in higher education. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 8, p. 1154652). Frontiers Media SA.
• Sung, R. J., Holt, E. A., & Lo, S. M. (2023, July). Constructing biology education research identities: a duoethnography. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 8, p. 1134040). Frontiers Media SA.
• Emily A. Holt, Isaiah Jonas, Mariah Stechelin “Inequity in authorship of North American lichens,” The Bryologist, 126(2), 205-216, (16 May 2023)