Congratulations to Krista! A publication and a win at ANACHEM!

Congratulations to current 5th-year graduate student, Krista, for her recent accomplishments: a presentation award at the 2023 ANACHEM symposium and a co-first author publication in the Journal of Chemical Education!

ANACHEM 2023

The 2023 ANACHEM symposium was held on November 9th, 2023 in Livonia, Michigan. The day-long event was filled with research talks, workshops, a poster session, and a plenary lecture from the 2022 ANACHEM award winner: Dr. Joseph Loo, Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry, David Geffen School of Medicine, and in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UCLA.

Krista represented the Bailey Lab and gave a research talk titled, “muLTBI: a multiplexed biomarker method for latent tuberculosis management”. She presented the first graduate student talk of the day and was recognized as the best graduate student presentation in her session!

Judy Wu and Andrew Holen from the Pratt Lab received the award for their respective presentation sessions and Rosie Villafuerte-Vega from the Ruotolo Lab was recognized as the best graduate student poster presentation. Congrats to all the presenters!

 

Publication in Journal of Chemical Education

Congratulations to Krista and her colleagues in the Shultz Research Group for their recent publication in the Journal of Chemical Education! The publication focuses on the implementation and adaptation of the chemistry instructional coaching program within the department.

Chemistry Instructional Coaching: Adapting a Peer-Led Professional Development Program for Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistants

Abstract: Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) are crucial facilitators of undergraduate education, yet many begin their teaching appointments with minimal knowledge of teaching practices. Chemistry Instructional Coaching offers GTAs at the University of Michigan an opportunity to develop their instructional practice through a collaborative, nonevaluative, and reflective coaching program. We implemented an instructional coaching program designed in collaboration with the Knowles Teacher Initiative to meet the needs of GTAs teaching in a postsecondary setting. In a coaching cycle, a trained GTA (the coach) guides a recruited GTA (the coachee) through conversations that allow the coachee to develop a teaching-related goal, plan how to implement changes to their instruction, and reflect on the measurable outcomes. This iterative cycle builds on itself over the course of one or two semesters, with new goals being identified for each cycle. Through adapting the program in our department over time, we utilized feedback from coaches and coachees to adjust the structure of the coaching program and develop relevant materials to support knowledge of instructional practice. Herein, we report on the program design, enrollment, and current structure, and we discuss the main adaptations that we implemented to develop a sustainable program within the chemistry department. We believe that this graduate-student-led instructional coaching program has the potential to be integrated into other departments or postsecondary settings.

Read the full paper here!

Congratulations to co-first authors Rebecca, Ina, and Krista (pictured here at the Shultz Group’s traditional ‘Paper Cake’ celebration), and the entire coaching team!