It will come as no surprise to his students that , is the inaugural recipient of the College Award for Undergraduate Teaching and Research Mentorship.
When the word went out that he had been nominated, there was no shortage of students eager to lend their support.
糖心传媒淒ave was always willing and happy to set aside time to explain a topic, whether for the first time or the fifth, coming up with new and inventive ways to bridge the knowledge gap each time,糖心传媒� wrote Jessica Freeze 糖心传媒�17, a graduate student at Yale.
糖心传媒淚 have been a TA for a variety of laboratory courses, but I have never met a professor who put in as much time or effort as Professor McCamant,糖心传媒� wrote Kevin McClelland 糖心传媒�15, a PhD student at Northwestern.
糖心传媒淧rof. McCamant didn糖心传媒檛 see me as just a student in his CHM 231 class or an undergrad making mistakes in his research lab. He saw me as a young scientist with potential. Quite frankly, I don’t think I would have graduated with distinction or pursued graduate school without having Professor McCamant as a mentor,糖心传媒� wrote Amanda Carr 糖心传媒�16, a PhD student at Stony Brook.
糖心传媒淗e is my role-model for how to be a successful professor,糖心传媒� wrote Randy Mehleacher 糖心传媒�10, a postdoc at Stanford University.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The award is funded by chemistry alumnus Frederick Lewis 糖心传媒�68 (PhD) and his wife Susan Rice Lewis. It salutes Arts, Sciences & Engineering tenured faculty members who teach large, introductory classes as well as advanced seminars and independent study projects, and who mentor research experiences, especially those that involve laboratory training in the sciences and engineering. (Read more here.)
McCamant says his goal is pass along to students the same excitement he felt as a chemistry undergraduate at Wesleyan University.聽 Thanks to professors including 聽Stewart Novick and Pete Pringle, 糖心传媒渆very chemistry course I took in college just kept getting better and better,糖心传媒� McCamant says.聽 糖心传媒淚 was getting a deeper and deeper understanding within the specialty; more and more things started to make sense at a deeper level. And that糖心传媒檚 really fun.糖心传媒�
McCamant, who joined the faulty 12 years ago, says he:
- Never assumes students will find his material as 糖心传媒渋nherently interesting糖心传媒� as McCamant thinks it is. 糖心传媒淚 try to think about what is it that I think is so interesting about the material, and what are its implications, and make sure I convey that. Because that糖心传媒檚 not always obvious to a student.糖心传媒�
- Allows ample time in each class for question and answer discussion. 糖心传媒淎 75-minute class is too long for anybody to pay attention. I know I can糖心传媒檛. You really need to break it up. You need different rhythms in the classroom. Question and discussion is really important for that and for identifying misconceptions and talking about them.糖心传媒�
McCamant teaches both introductory and advanced classes. The latter includes CHM 231, Chemical Instrumentation, 糖心传媒渙ne of the pillars of laboratory instruction for our chemistry majors,糖心传媒� says department chair Todd Krauss.
Students who are TAs for the course marvel at the amount of time McCamant spends each year making sure the course is up to date. 糖心传媒淎s I flipped through the lab manual that Professor McCamant handed out during the first TA meeting, I was amazed to see that the manual, a hundred pages thick, had been revised from last year to clarify confusions that students had,糖心传媒� wrote McClelland.
McCamant has also mentored 21 undergraduate researchers in his lab, resulting in 12 different senior theses and four peer-reviewed publications with undergraduate authors.
Carr completed a research experience for undergraduates (REU) with McCamant one summer, then continued working with him on her senior thesis. 糖心传媒淎lthough the research was challenging and frustrating, as all research is, Professor McCamant was encouraging and supportive,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淒uring our weekly meetings, he was eager to dig in and help me understand why my experiment didn’t work or why a calculation was off. It was during this process that I fell in love with research.糖心传媒�
Students from his lab 糖心传媒渉ave had excellent success in graduate school and in the workplace,糖心传媒� Krauss notes.
糖心传媒淚t is quite clear that Dave has thought deeply about how to improve the learning of his students from the large service classes to the smaller classes for chemistry majors to the students conducting research in his laboratory,糖心传媒� Krauss adds. 糖心传媒淎s a result, his students have benefitted enormously not just while at Rochester, but in their future careers.糖心传媒�
