"Celebrating the Periodic Table" with Christian Rojas - The Academy for Teachers

Celebrating the Periodic Table with Christian Rojas
In a time when we desperately need things to celebrate, let us appreciate one of humanity’s greatest intellectual achievements of all time: The Periodic Table of the Elements.
Following up on the International Year of the Periodic Table in 2019, which honored the table’s 150th anniversary, this mini master class will feature elemental connections in memoir and poetry.
Christian M. Rojas is professor of chemistry at Barnard College, where he has taught since 1997. A synthetic organic chemist, his research interests involve reactions that introduce nitrogen atoms into three-dimensionally complex molecular structures, particularly carbohydrates. In his teaching, Rojas wants to help students understand a chemist’s fascination with the molecular-scale world, highlighting the organic chemistry of biological processes and making occasional connections to poetry and literature. He received Barnard’s student-selected Emily Gregory Teaching Award in 2013 and edited the book "Molecular Rearrangements in Organic Synthesis," published in 2015.