CHRISTINE FLEENER
PhD, Comparative Human Development, Behavioral Biology Specialist, The University of Chicago (2018)
BS, Astronomy & Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2009)
Greetings, Traveler. I'm Christine. Take a seat as I tell you a story...
I spent many years navigating my own curiosity for the world.
As a scientist, I followed many rabbit holes toward degrees in astronomy and anthropology, publications in plant and insect science, and a doctorate in the development of animal behavior, psychology, and play.
As a gamer and a puzzler, I found projects exploring how human animals process and connect with their world to understand how humans are lured in by challenging, bewildering spaces and motivated to solve them.
As a naturalist, I knew wilderness was always the best and most humbling puzzle designer, captured by this Mark Elbroch quote about deciphering tracks in Mammal Tracks & Sign:
"It's detective work, and sometimes we are wrong. That's right - wrong - and it's no big deal unless we cling to our first interpretation rather than be willing to adapt as new information presents itself. We can only make the best guess with the evidence at hand, and if new evidence points in a new direction, we should throw out our old ideas and make new, better-informed ones."
As an educator, I wanted to understand how best to harness and engage the inherent curiosity of my students and saw how story telling, world-building, games, and puzzles unlocked even deeper layers of awareness and self-reflection.
It is this unique combination of life-long experience that has brought me to establish THE BEWILDS...
a space where games and puzzles are more than a fun escape, but a medium for connecting with what is most real. It is in the ways we learn to see and make sense of the cryptic and obscure that we become more aware of what is present and possible in this world.
GAME & PUZZLE DESIGN
DASH, Game Control (2019)
Puzzled Pint, Game Control (2016-2020)
Woodland Puzzle Box, Crow's Path, VT (Summer 2018)
The Parasite Alternate Reality Game, Fourcast Lab, University of Chicago (Summer 2017)
The Mystery League (2016-2018)
TEACHING
K-8 TEACHING
Renaissance School of Arts and Sciences, Portland, OR (2023 - 2025)
K-8 Science Specialist
Portland Forest School of the Pacific Northwest (2019 - 2023)
K-8 Teaching Faculty & Curriculum Developer
Trackers Earth, Portland OR (2019 - 2020)
Instructor, Curriculum Designer, and Guide for Woodland Artisan & Survival Camps, Homeschool Outdoor Skills Program, Spark Backyard Classroom, Doc Fleen's Mystery Laboratory
Nurturing Wisdom, Chicago, IL (2016 - 2017)
Standardized Test Prep, Math, Writing, & Executive Functioning Tutor
Orpheum Children's Science Museum, Champaign IL (2010 - 2011)
Curriculum Developer & Instructor
COLLEGE AND GRADUATE LEVEL TEACHING
Vermont State University
- Bewilderness: Games and Puzzles as Educational Worldbuilding (Summer 2023)
University of Chicago
- Language, Culture, And Thought (Spring 2018)
- Animal Behavior (Winter 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
- New Media and Games (Summer 2017)
- Evolution and Economics of Human Behavior (Winter 2015, Autumn 2017)
- Methods of Data Analysis (Autumn 2016)
- Primate Behavior and Ecology (Autumn 2012)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Introduction to Astronomy (Autumn 2010)
NVITED TALKS & MEDIA ON PEDAGOGY
Independent Schools Association of the Central States Conference
Scaffolding Outdoor Learning for All K-8 Developmental Stages, Standards, and Environmental Access (March 2022)
Outdoor Learning and Growth Mindset (October 2021)
The News Gazette (August 2021), The Natural Approach by Dave Hinton in Name Dropping
Champaign Central UI Graduate's New Classroom is the Forests of Oregon...
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION, OUTREACH, & ANIMAL WELFARE
CyberTracker Certification
Level 1 (78%)
South Puget Sound, WA
Single Acorn Podcast
Co-hosted podcast on the natural world.
Cascadia Wild
Contributing to community science projects tracking and collecting data on rare carnivores and other wildlife in Mt Hood National Forest.
Bird Alliance of Oregon
Presented educational information on local wildlife at events; serviced email and call center inquiries regarding behavior and identification of local flora and fauna; assisted veterinary procedures, transport, intakes, and public inquiries for injured and rehabilitated wildlife at the Wildlife Care Center.
Pan African Sanctuary Alliance
Provided administrative support and grant writing for the largest association of wildlife centers and sanctuaries in Africa.
Punta Santiago Dogs, Inc
Founded 501c3 Public Charity (EIN 83-1707731) in 2018 offering community support for animal welfare crises and coordinating medical attention, clinics, evacuation, and rehoming for hundreds of dogs in Puerto Rico.
Mission Rabies
Assisted vaccination, veterinary procedures, and collection of census data on over 10,000 cats and dogs to prevent the spread of rabies in Zomba, Malawi June 2017.
INVITED TALKS & PANELS
Cross-Cultural Differences in Companion Animals Across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Malawi (Canisius College Anthrozoology Seminar, November 2017)
Animal Encounters in the Unwild (University of Chicago Animal/Nonhuman Studies Workshop Panel, April 2016)
SCIENCE
University of Chicago Behavioral Biology Laboratory (2011 - 2018)
Advisor: Dr. Dario Maestripieri
Investigation of cognitive, physiological, behavioral, and socioemotional development in free-ranging rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) from birth to 3 years at the Caribbean Primate Research Center on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico with a focus on maternal-infant relationship, early exploration, independence, and impacts to social and spatial cognition.
PUBLICATIONS
Fleener, CE (2018). Growing Up Rhesus: A Dynamic Systems Approach to Spatial Cognitive Development and Early Experience in Free-Ranging Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) (Doctoral dissertation, The University of Chicago).
Mandalaywala T, Fleener C, Maestripieri D (2015). Intelligence in nonhuman primates. In: Handbook of Intelligence: Evolutionary Theory, Historical Perspective, and Current Concepts. Ed. By S. Goldstein, J. Naglieri. Berlin: Springer.
Fleener C, Ruber G, Maestripieri D (2013). Exploring behavioral responses to different types of novelty in free-range infant rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico. American Journal of Primatology, 75 (1): 78.
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TALKS
Reed College Psychology Colloquium (September 2019) - A Dynamic Approach to Primate Cognitive Development
University of Chicago Institute for Mind and Biology (January 2018) - Spatial Coding and Overlap in Rotational Displacement and Mental Rotation Looking Time in Yearling Rhesus Macaques
Animal Behavior Society Conference (June 2015) - Development of Preferences for "Gender-Specific" Toys in Free-range Infant Rhesus Macaques
University of Chicago Developmental Psychology Symposium (April 2017) - Spatial Coding and Cognitive Development in Rhesus Macaques from Infancy to Juvenility
University of Chicago Comparative Behavioral Biology Workshop (January 2017) - Spatial Coding and Cognitive Development in Rhesus Macaques from Infancy to Juvenility
International Primatological Society Conference (August 2016) - Spatial Cognition and Socioemotional Development from Infancy to Juvenility in Free-Ranging Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) on Cayo Santiago, Puerto Rico
Lincoln Park Zoo Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes (April 2016) - Early Experience and Cognitive Development in Free-ranging Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta)
University of Chicago Institute for Mind and Biology (February 2013) - Exploring Behavioral Responses to Four Classes of Unfamiliar Object in Free-Range Infant Rhesus Macaques
University of Chicago Animal Behavior Seminar (April 2013) - Exploring Behavioral Responses to Different Types of Novel Object in Free-Range Infant Rhesus Macaques
GRANTS & FUNDING
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GRAD Global Impact Grant (2017)
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Social Sciences Division Long-Term Project Research Grant (2015)
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Social Sciences Division Summer Research Grant (2015)
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Mary Ann North and James L Rynerson Research Grant (2013)
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National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship for Biopsychology (2012-2015)
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Institute for Mind and Biology Research Fellowship (2011-2018)
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Social Sciences Division Graduate Research Fellowship (2011-2016)
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Diversifying Higher Education and Faculty in Illinois Fellowship (2011-2015)
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Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Fellowship (2011-2012)
Energy Biosciences Institute (2010 - 2011)
PI: Dr. Erik Sacks
Phylogenetic research on the perennial grass Miscanthus, comparing genotypes to optimize sampling strategies for crop improvement and biofuel applications. Research featured in Natural Lands Trust.
Zhao Y, Clark LV, Fleener CE, McElhenney W, Mortley D, Sacks EJ, Prakash CS, Qin G, Bao Y, Chen X, Zhao H, Peng J, Jaynes J (2026). Genome-wide association and genomic prediction for biomass traits of Miscanthus sinensis germplasm planted in Alabama. GCB Bioenergy.
Zhao Y, Basak S, Fleener C, Egnin M, Sacks E, Prakash C, He G (2016). Genetic diversity of Miscanthus sinensis in US naturalized populations. GCB Bioenergy.
Illinois Natural History Survey
(2007 - 2009)
PI: Dr. Paul Tinerella
Phylogenetic research of water boatmen (Insecta: Heteroptera: Corixoidea) and studies of species radiation in tiger salamanders and western painted turtles.
Fleener CE, Tinerella PP (2008). Comparison of an additional ribosomal DNA fragment (28S rDNA d2-d3 region) contributing to a molecular phylogeny of the water boatmen (Insecta: Heteroptera: Corixoidea). Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Sciences, 101: 52.
Received Illinois State Academy of Science Student Research Award (2008)
University of Illinois Department of Astronomy (2008 - 2009)
PI: Dr. You-Hua Chu
Utilized Spitzer Space Telescope observations and WFPC2 images from the Hubble Space Telescope to determine the relationship between Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) and Massive Star Formation in NGC 2074, a star forming complex near 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Fleener C, Payne J, Chu Y-U, Chen C-H R, Gruendl R. (2010). Massive Star Formation in NGC 2074. The Astronomical Journal. 139: 158-167.