DeWeese, Dory

Short Biography

Dr. Dory DeWeese (she/her) obtained her B.S. and M.A. Chemistry with a concentration in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Virginia. She obtained her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University, where she was advised by Professor Edward I. Solomon. Her previous work focused on elucidating the structure and function of oxygen-activating non-heme iron enzymes. There, she combined excited- and ground-state spectroscopies (Magnetic Circular Dichroism and Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopy), X-ray crystallography and quantum mechanical calculations to define the mechanisms of reaction of iron enzymes, O 2 , and their organic substrates. While at Stanford, she also worked with Dr. Jennifer Schwartz-Poehlmann, Professor Jocelyn Nardo, and Professor Shima Salehi to design equitable introductory chemistry courses and programs to support the success of all students. Dr. DeWeese joined the UCLA faculty in 2024 as an Assistant Teaching Professor. Her group now focuses on establishing new equitable education practices to ensure all students can thrive in chemistry.

Research Interests

Our research program focuses on developing best-practices in equitable and inclusive chemical education to enhance students’ feeling of belonging and success in chemistry. Keys areas of investigation include: 1) developing equitable course materials to support students’ conception of and belonging in chemistry, 2) building new programs and courses that foster a sense of belonging and support retention in the chemistry, and 3) re-designing large enrollment courses to tailor instruction to individual needs and knowledge levels of students. Our work seeks to leverage the experiences and expertise of undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research and instructional faculty members, and UCLA academic centers to co-create chemistry courses to support the success of all students in chemistry.

Honors & Awards

2023 Lieberman Graduate Fellowship, Stanford University
2021 Linus Pauling Teaching Award, Stanford University
2021 Jonathan L. Sessler Graduate Student Leadership Award, Stanford University
2021 Charles Ronald Peaker Graduate Student Leadership Award, Stanford University
2018 Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education, Stanford University
2018 Stanford Graduate Fellowship, Stanford University
2017 American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry, University of Virginia

Representative Publications

  • DeWeese, D.E., Nardo, J.E.*, Applebaum, I., Sundrani, S., Zur, A., Schwartz Poehlmann, J., Waymouth, B., Salehi, S. The Story of STEMentors: Promoting the Academic Readiness and Community Building of Students within General Chemistry. J. Chem. Ed. 101: 88-96 (2023). Link
  • Jacobs, A.B., Banerjee, R., DeWeese, D.E., Braun, A., Babicz, JT., Gee, L. B., Sutherlin, K.D., Böttger, L.H., Yoda, Y., Saito, M., Kitao, S., Kobayashi, Y., Seto, M., Tamasaku, K., Lipscomb, J.D., Park, K., Solomon, E.I.* Nuclear Resonance Vibrational Spectroscopic Definition of the Fe(IV)2 Intermediate in Methane Monooxygenase and Its Reactivity. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142:16007 – 16029 (2021). Link
  • Applebaum, I., Zur, A., Nardo, J.E., DeWeese, D.E., Sundrani, S., Schwartz Poehlmann, J., Salehi, S.* Meta-Learning for Better Learning: Using Meta-Learning Methods to Automatically Label Exam Questions with Detailed Learning Objectives. Educational Data Mining (2023). Link
  • Solomon, E. I.*, DeWeese, D.E., Babicz, J.T. Jr., Mechanisms of O 2 Activation by Mononuclear Non-Heme Iron Enzymes. Biochemistry. 60:3497 – 3506 (2021). Link
  • Babicz Jr., J. T., Rogers, M. S., DeWeese, D. E., Sutherlin, K. D., Böttger, L.H., Yoda, Y., Nagasawa, N., Saito, M., Kitao, S., Kurokuzu, K., Kobayashi, Y., Tamasaku, K., Seto, M., Lipscomb, J.D., Solomon, E.I.* NRVS Definition of the Peroxy Intermediates in Catechol Dioxygenases: Factors that Determine Extra-versus Intradiol Cleavage. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 145: 15230-15250 (2023). Link