Tomlinson Teaching Lecture: Jeffrey Moore - Increasing Learning and Curiosity in Chemistry by Making the Molecular Sciences Personal

Abstract:

The premedical competencies as outlined in a recent American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC)-HHMI report on Scientific Foundation for Future Physicians calls for stronger connections between course content and the underlying principles in health and medicine. To meet this need, I am developing chemistry courses at the University of Illinois for pre-health professionals that teach concepts and content in a personally meaningful way, thereby stimulating deep student interest and promoting curiosity-driven learning. Scientific evidence shows that people who feel curious devote more attention to an activity, process information more critically, remember information more effectively and persist on task until goals are met.

Bio:

Jeffrey Moore received his B.S. in chemistry (1984) and Ph.D. in materials science and engineering with Samuel Stupp (1989), both from the University of Illinois. He then went to Caltech as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow working with Robert Grubbs. In 1990, he joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and in 1993 returned to the University of Illinois, where he is currently a professor in the departments of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering, as well as the Stanley O. Ikenberry Endowed Chair. Jeff is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Chemical Society (ACS); he has received the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and has been recognized as a “Faculty Ranked Excellent by their Students.” For 14 years he served as an associate editor for the Journal of American Chemical Society. In 2014, he was selected as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor and in 2016 was chosen as the recipient for the ACS Edward Leete Award in Organic Chemistry. He received the Royal Society of Chemistry‘s Materials Chemistry Division 2018 Stephanie L. Kwolek Award. He has published over 400 articles covering topics from technology in the classroom to self-healing polymers, mechanoresponsive materials and shape-persistent macrocycles. He is currently serving as the Director of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois.