Anne Baranger

The College of Chemistry, Director of Undergraduate Chemistry

Research Group Site: Baranger Group

Chemical Education, Curricular Development, and Assessment.

The chemistry department at the University of California, Berkeley serves a large population of undergraduate and graduate students and is a national and international leader in research. Therefore, the chemistry department is positioned to be a leader in the development of innovative programs in chemistry education that impact a large number of students. An overall goal our work is to increase the numbers of students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and improve the scientific knowledge of both STEM students and students who do not ultimately choose to major in a STEM area. To achieve this, we are pursuing three broad topics: 1) curricular development, 2) improving the participation of underrepresented groups in our programs, and 3) developing rigorous and on-going evaluation of the program and assessment of student learning to allow an approach for educational reform based on hard data.

Courses Taught:

Chem 3A. Chemical Structure and Reactivity.
Chem 112A. Organic Chemistry
C96. Introduction to Research and Study in the College of Chemistry.

Biography

Anne Baranger received a B.S. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1993, under the direction of Professor Robert Bergman. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University with Professor Alanna Schepartz from 1993-1996. Professor Baranger joined the Wesleyan University chemistry faculty in 1996 and the University of Illinois chemistry faculty in 2006. At the University of Illinois, she was Associate Head of the Department, Director of Graduate Studies, and was a Chancellor's Fellow in the I-STEM Education Initiative. She joined the University of California, Berkeley, in 2011. She is the recipient of the Rudolph Anderson Postdoctoral Fellowship (1993-95), the Donaghue Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (1995) and an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2002-2004).

Michelle Douskey

College of Chemistry Lecturer

Courses Taught:

Chem 1A. General Chemistry
Chem 4B. General Chemistry and Quantitative Analysis
Chem 300. Professional Preparation: Supervised Teaching for Chemistry

Biography

Dr. Douskey has been a lecturer in the College of Chemistry since 2001. Her primary interests are faculty development, curriculum reform, research on assessment of student learning and incorporation of green chemistry into the laboratory program. Dr. Douskey plays a key role in the main General Chemistry class, Chem 1A. In particular, she coordinates the 30-50 Graduate Student Instructors in the course, and is involved in writing the laboratory manual, exams and problem sets. Chem 1A is a very technologically heavy course with the use of iClicker (classroom response system), webcasts, online homework, online simulations, online survey tools and bCourses. She actively pursues ways in which technology can enhance the classroom experience. Since 2011, Dr. Douskey has also facilitated the Lecturer Teaching Fellows program for the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Dr. Douskey received the Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs Award in 2006 for her work with the Chem 1A GSIs. Her work on assessment of student learning was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The green chemistry curriculum development project was funded through the California EPA, Department of Toxic Substances Control. Current work on incorporating green chemistry and sustainable design into the curriculum is funded by the Dow Foundation. In 2013 Dr. Douskey received the Centennial Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from Iota Sigma Pi, a national honor society for women in chemistry.

Pete Marsden

College of Chemistry Lecturer

Courses Taught

Chem 1AL. General Chemistry Laboratory
Chem 3A. Chemical Structure and Reactivity.
Chem 3AL. Organic Chemistry Laboratory.
Chem 3BL. Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Chem 300. Professional Preparation: Supervised Teaching of Chemistry.

Biography

Pete received his B.A. in Chemistry at Pomona College in 2006. He began his doctoral work at UC Berkeley in the Fall of 2006 with Professors Bergman and Ellman studying the deoxygenation of biomass and received his PhD in May 2012 from Berkeley. In the 2011-2012 academic year, Pete taught Organic Chemistry at the University of San Francisco.

Steve Pedersen

College of Chemistry Senior Lecturer

Courses Taught

Chem 3A-3B. Chemical Structure and Reactivity
Chem 3AL-3BL. Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Chem 112A-112B. Organic Chemistry
Chem 113. Advanced Mechanistic Organic Chemistry
Chem 115. Organic Chemistry-Advanced Laboratory Methods
Chem 301C. Chemistry 3 Laboratory Assistant

Biography

Steven Pedersen received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1979 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in 1983 under the direction of Professor Richard Schrock. From 1983-1985 he was a National Institutes of Health Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working with Professor K. Barry Sharpless. He began his career at U. C. Berkeley in 1985. From 1985-1987 he held the Joel Hildebrand Chair in Chemistry and from 1986-1991 he was a National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator. Dr. Pedersen has also received the Eli Lilly Grantee Award and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. In 2005 he was recognized by the Chancellor of U. C. Berkeley as an "Everyday Hero". In 2012 he was named in the first edition of Princeton Review's "The Best 300 Professors".

MaryAnn Robak

College of Chemistry Lecturer

Courses Taught

Chem 3AL-3BL. Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Chem 112AL-112BL. Organic Chemistry Laboratory
Chem 115. Organic Chemistry-Advanced Laboratory Methods

Biography

MaryAnn Robak studied as an undergraduate at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, where she completed B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Medicinal Chemistry in 2005. She earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California Berkeley in 2010, under the direction of Prof. Jonathan Ellman. She is currently a lecturer in the College of Chemistry at UC Berkeley, a position she has held since 2010.