MMG @ UNSW - Teaching

I teach a range of chemistry topics within the School. I am actively involved in the design and development of novel educational resources that aim to enrich students' appreciation of the subject. I love talking with students and seeing their "Aha!" moments.

Beyond classroom teaching, I have also led the organisation of the NSW student conference in computational chemistry aimed at providing excellent training for Australia's next generation of HDR students in computational science. The most recent one was held in Kiama 2023 where more than 50 academics and students attended. The next one will be held in 2025 - stay tuned!

I am the recipient of the 2023 UNSW Award for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning.

CHEM1011/1031/1051 - Higher Chemistry 1A

I have been teaching first year chemistry since 2020. Check out our recent paper in the Journal of Chemical Education where we developed visual tools to help instructors and students to easily understand the errors in mathematical approximations used in acid-base equilbria calculations.

Topics taught:

Chemical Equilibria
Acid-Base Chemistry
Chemical Thermodynamics
Electrochemistry

CHEM2041 - Analytical Chemistry

Topics taught:

Statistical Methods
Introduction to Python programming
Lab skills, including IR, NMR and UV-visible spectroscopy and HPLC analysis.

CHEM3051 - Medicinal Organic Chemistry

I am responsible for the design and development of course materials on in-silico methods used in medicinal and organic chemistry research. The course is composed of lectures and interactive hands-on workshops. Topics covered include:

Introductory quantum chemistry
Quantum chemical modelling of reaction mechanisms and physicochemical properties
Statistical free energy methods and docking simulations

CHEM3011 - Quantum Nature of Molecules

I have been the coordinator of this third year physical chemistry course since 2018 and lead a team of lecturers to integrate computational chemistry into the curriculum. In addition to the running of the course, I have developed novel laboratory and workshop materials - some of which have appeared in the chemical education literature, see for example J. Chem. Ed. 2021, 98, 1043-1048. Topics taught:

Statistical thermodynamics
Practical aspects of computational chemistry
Multi-scale methods