My name is Joanna, and I am a senior majoring in biology with a global health certificate and am also completing a Master’s of Public Health in epidemiology. This semester, I am working with Dr. George Bandik and his organic chemistry 1 course (CHEM 0310) in an effort to extend the concepts they learn beyond the exams.
As one of the most common prerequisites for many healthcare professions, organic chemistry is a notorious course at Pitt, where it tends to be fast-paced and overwhelming, especially as many do not have prior experience in the subject. The sheer amount of content that is also included in a single semester means that the time spent on each individual concept is limited. As I have previously taken Dr. Bandik’s course and was a Undergraduate Teaching Undergraduate (UTU) for the course my junior year, I experienced and saw firsthand how easy it is for students to become focused on passing the course, memorizing the concepts without seeing their application. From my personal experience, organic chemistry 1 is also harder to visualize beyond the classroom as the organic chemistry lab tends to be taken the following semester.
After tutoring students in the course, I hoped to gain a more involved role, which I hope to accomplish through my CUTF project. My project allows me to personally research and expand on select concepts, especially those that extend into organic chemistry 2, the second course in the track, and the lab in an effort to help students not only learn but also see how the reactions are used in the real world, with a focus on the healthcare setting given the typical demographic of the students. Ideally, students will benefit from my project by being able to visualize the reactions in a context they are more familiar with, enhancing their ability to stay engaged in the content.
At this point in time, my main goal is to complete my Master’s of Public Health. In addition to my courses and being a UTU for Dr. Bandik, I am currently completing genetics research and volunteer as a tutor for grade school students. My experience both as a teaching assistant and a researcher allowed me to realize I would like to stay in academia for my future career, where the CUTF would help me along my journey. However, whether I will pursue a career in research or healthcare (or both) is something I hope to be able to decide within the next year! Given the self-pressure of trying to figure out my future, in an effort to relax over the past summer, I traveled to six different countries in Europe, of which I can only remember three. Either way, the food and the cultural experience were one of a kind, with the featured picture being proof of the experience!