Lessons in resilience: An interview with Erica Crespi

11/14/2025

By Violet Sorrentino

Erica Crespi has been told that she tends to chase shiny things. From career paths to model organisms to teaching methods to research questions, the Washington State University professor’s scientific journey has been anything but linear. But, in the face of criticism that she is a jack of all trades and a master of none, she views her adaptability as one of her greatest strengths. And, as the winner of this year’s Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Prize, she’s certainly proven her decades-long dedication to being a mentor that helps others embrace their imperfections.

As an undergraduate at Lehigh University, Crespi studied journalism with a focus on science writing. She had to double major in STEM and fate landed her in a field zoology class with Dave Cundall. This was more than just a course, but an experience that opened the door to a career in research, something she didn’t even know was an option. Cundall saw something in her and encouraged her to apply to graduate school. Though she felt some imposter syndrome for her lack of research experience, it was her reporting background that bolstered her confidence. “I never envisioned myself as a biologist, but journalism trained me well for research. Ask questions…always try and look underneath the surface for the truth…and just be curious…those are the most important skills you need as a scientist,” Crespi said.

During her master’s at Wake Forest University, Crespi studied salamander population genetics in the Appalachians. During her PhD at the University of Virginia, she shifted her focus to study how parental exposure to the environment influenced salamander offspring. This got her thinking about what was going on inside these animals at a molecular level, and she became a postdoc in the Reproductive Sciences Program at the University of Michigan. She switched gears and began working with other amphibians, including Xenopus, to better understand how hormonal changes precipitated by the environment influenced tadpole development. This is when she settled on the label of environmental endocrinologist.

Crespi saw that her expertise at the intersection of ecology, development and endocrinology was the perfect jumping off point for training the next generation of scientists. Her father was a middle school math teacher and she felt the same calling to share her knowledge. But she lamented the fact that old school ways of teaching penalized students like herself, who were talented at research but less adept at memorization. Eager to provide an experience that contrasted from her own undergraduate education and help students “get their hands dirty with science,” she only applied to work at small liberal arts schools.

She became a professor at Vassar College in 2005, which coincided with a growing movement to ground biology education in inquiry-based teaching, as outlined in the National Science Foundation’s Vision and Change initiative. Crespi joined a training program for liberal arts college faculty to learn how to teach genomics in an active way. She didn’t want students following a cookbook lab protocol, but to feel empowered to ask their own questions, think critically about how to test hypotheses and analyze data, and construct a scientific narrative. This active learning model “became part of [her] DNA as an educator and a scientist.”

After five years at Vassar, Crespi found herself with a two-body problem and had to take on the challenge of adapting her inquiry-based teaching for an R1 institution. At Washington State, she encountered larger class sizes, graduate teaching assistants who were in the lab instead of her, and a student body that almost mutinied in response to her novel approach. Despite the growing pains, Crespi’s course evaluations are now sprinkled with comments from students who felt like scientists for the first time. One of her proudest moments as an educator was publishing an article using data from the undergraduates in her lab course. She found it gratifying to have proof of principle that “you can do novel science in this way.”

Crespi led workshops at the 2018 and 2020 Society for Developmental Biology Northwest Regional Meetings to share her tools. Attendees expressed their concern that this teaching style would require much more effort, but she reframed it as a modification of the already-familiar research process to include undergraduates and enhance participation. She explained that when everyone is doing research in the classroom, it removes the barrier of having to approach professors and ask to work with them. Without this hurdle, students who never thought they could be good at science “experience that minute of discovery” and identify their potential, which has been one the most rewarding parts of teaching for Crespi.

She also recognizes that effective education extends beyond the classroom. In 2021, she secured funding as a co-PI on a National Science Foundation graduate training grant to foster community engagement so that students collaborate with experts outside the university for research while gaining career skills in the process. Her emphasis on relationship-building has also extended to efforts in bringing underrepresented voices to the table. In 2023, she became a co-PI on a $3 million NSF grant in partnership with the Coeur d’Alene and Nez Perce tribes to provide post-baccalaureates with research experiences that bridge indigenous knowledge and western science. She noted that such an interdisciplinary effort has been hard work, but worth it for the goal of increasing diversity in science and building a welcoming environment for scientists with unique perspectives.

For Crespi, teaching is not only an honor, but a responsibility she takes very seriously. She emphasized that developmental biology education provides crucial information that students can employ as citizens in the doctor’s office, the voting booth and beyond. Her infectious passion has no doubt influenced the 17 trainees she’s mentored and over 1000 undergraduates she’s taught during her 14 years at WSU. She expressed her disbelief at being amongst the past winners of the Viktor Hamburger Prize, despite her impressive record, and her pride at being recognized for her work in changing the narrative of biology teaching.

Crespi ended our interview on a hopeful note. She highlighted the importance of failure in driving science forward, and reflected on her ability to provide a soft place to land so that students know nothing bad will happen when they do fail. She admitted that there’s no big secret to confidence other than dusting yourself off and trying again but “that's what resilience is all about, and that's kind of what my research is about.”

Last Updated 11/14/2025