We are pleased to welcome to the department our two new Teacher-Scholar Instructional faculty members.
Dr. Kristopher Barr (M.S. ’15, Ph.D. ’20) and Dr. Daniel Nasrallah have joined our Teacher-Scholar Instructional faculty. They were chosen from a competitive pool of many applicants. Our Teacher-Scholar program allows postdoctoral scholars to experience research and teaching at the same time as a way to prepare them for future faculty positions. Dr. Barr is mentored by Professor Paul Weiss and Dr. Nasrallah is mentored by Professor Neil Garg.
Dr. Kristopher Barr (2020-21 Libby Teacher-Scholar) Barr received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of California, Irvine in 2012. He went on to engineer scanning tunneling microscopy techniques capable of measuring vibrational features at the nanoscale with Professor Paul Weiss at UCLA where he received both an M.S. (2015) and Ph.D. (2020) in materials chemistry. Barr will teach two sections of 20B during the Winter quarter, and 20B and 113A during the Spring quarter, while performing research in the P. Weiss laboratory.
Dr. Daniel Nasrallah (2020-21 Donald J. Cram Teacher-Scholar) Nasrallah received his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2014. He went on to develop new methodologies in synthetic organic chemistry with Professor Corinna Schindler at the University of Michigan where he received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2020. Nasrallah is currently teaching CHEM 30BL – Organic Chemistry Laboratory I during the 2020-21 academic year, while performing research in the Garg laboratory.
Our 2019-2021 Teacher-Scholar Instructors, Dr. Marlius Castillo (Cram Teacher-Scholar, García-Garibay group) and Dr. Anish Nag (M.S. ’15, Ph.D. ’19) (Boyer Teacher-Scholar, Gelbart group) will continue to teach undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry courses and conduct research in the 2020-21 academic year.
About the Boyer/Cram/Libby Teacher-Scholar Program
The Teacher-Scholar positions honor UCLA Chemistry & Biochemistry Department Nobel Laureates Paul D. Boyer, Donald J. Cram, and Willard F. Libby, and recognize their many contributions to the advancement of chemistry and biochemistry. Boyer/Cram/Libby Teacher-Scholars are expected to serve for three years, with the initial appointment for one year, plus the possibility of renewal annually. They are expected to teach three one-quarter undergraduate chemistry or biochemistry courses during a given academic year and conduct postdoctoral research with a sponsoring faculty member in the UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.
About our Former Teacher-Scholars
Our Teacher-Scholars are some of the best and brightest teachers and researchers in their fields and, as much as we are sad to bid them farewell, we know they will go on to make important contributions to world.
Dr. Agape Awad (2018-20 Paul D. Boyer Teacher-Scholar, C. Clarke group) In June 2020, Awad started a position as Lead Scientist at the Quality Biology Laboratory at Edwards Lifesciences in Irvine, CA where she is developing new methods that are regulatory and FDA compliant to validate cardiovascular medical devices for patient therapy.
Dr. Christian Beren (2018-20 Willard F. Libby Teacher-Scholar, Gelbart/Knobler group) in August 2020, Beren started a position as an assistant teaching professor at the Colorado School of Mines in Chemistry. At Mines, Christian teaches a combination of general chemistry, physical chemistry and biochemistry/biophysics courses.
Dr. Shuming Chen (2016-2019 Cram Teacher-Scholar, Houk group) July 2020, Chen accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Oberlin College in Ohio.
Dr. Zhao Li (our first 2016-2019 Libby Teacher-Scholar, Lin group) is a visiting professor of chemistry at Pomona College.
Dr. Sharon Neufeldt (our first 2013-2016 Cram Postdoctoral Teacher-Scholar, Houk group) is an assistant professor of chemistry at Montana State University.
Dr. Rachel Prado (2017-2019 Cram Teacher-Scholar, Bouchard group) In 2019, Prado returned to her home state of Alabama to accept an organic chemistry and biochemistry lecturer position at Auburn University.
Dr. Roshini Ramachandran (2017-2019 Boyer Teacher-Scholar, Spokoyny group) is the Assistant Director of Curricular Initiatives at UCLA’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching. She continues to teach undergraduate courses for the department and will be teaching CHEM 3 – Material World in the Fall 2020.
Dr. Jacquelin Kammeyer Woodford (our first 2016-2019 Boyer Teacher-Scholar, Maynard group) is a Lecturer in Chemistry at Wellesley College.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penny@chem.ucla.edu.
