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Matthew B. Francis Associate Professor,
Chemistry |
Matthew Francis, Associate Professor of Chemistry, joined the campus in 2001. Since beginning his career at Berkeley, Francis has been deeply involved making changes in the Chemistry curriculum; he initiated and continues to advise two student-run seminar series, which attract speakers from around the country, including Harvard and MIT. He is the chair of a committee that is redesigning all undergraduate Chemistry teaching labs. Francis teaches a broad range of classes: Physical Organic Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Transition Metal Chemistry, and Freshman-level Quantitative Analysis, to name a few. Students are united in their praise: “He showed a passion for the topic, kept it interesting, and motivated me to learn. I felt confident that he knew everything, even when he admitted that he didn’t know something. He has a genuine concern for students.” The Committee praised him for his remarkable ability to engage students, and for his commitment to their education.
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
When teaching classes that bridge traditional scientific disciplines, it is important to realize that virtually every student will be required to leave their intellectual comfort zone on a regular basis. To coax them out of their shells, I frequently use concrete examples that relate chemical biology concepts to human health, the adaptation of plants and animals to their environment (bear, camel, and frog stories are perennial favorites!), or the development of new sustainability technologies. In addition to making the lectures more engaging, these topics are inherently interesting to most people, which motivates them to learn material that is unfamiliar.
It is also important to assure students that they are not alone when they find new concepts to be difficult. I feel that it is helpful to tell them how I first learned something or what I do to remember it, as this emphasizes the fact that I was once a student struggling with the same material. I also make it a point to establish a vibrant office hours environment and I give all of the review sessions for the class. Both of these opportunities allow me to reiterate and clarify the concepts of the course (usually with embellishments that we do not have time to cover in class), and they provide a community learning environment that encourages the students to communicate and work with each other.
In my experience, the majority of the students in Berkeley science programs are hungry to have more direct interactions with faculty members, and it is striking how quickly and positively they respond when we spend some informal time with them outside of the classroom. With these additional interactions comes a fantastic opportunity to show them how rewarding a career in teaching and scientific research can be. I maintain a relatively low barrier between myself and the students, and I consistently make it a point to tell them about a cool talk I just saw at a conference, an interesting place I just visited, or a relevant TV program I just watched.
All academics have their job because they obsessively love the facts, details, and methods of their discipline, but all too often the students see us as bogged down with administrative drudgeries or endless grant writing. It is critically important that we show them how much fun we are having, how much we love the science that we study, and that we are (or at least were!) very much like them. Typically I also show pictures of the scientists whose work we discuss in class and provide details and stories about their background. This serves to humanize their contributions and demystify their career paths. I think that these personal connections, perhaps more than anything else, are of key importance for increasing the number of future scientists.