Michael

Certified Tutor

I received a BA with honors in Chemistry from Grinnell College in 2011 and received my PhD in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2017. I was a student mentor in organic chemistry during my junior and senior years at Grinnell. Then, at UW Madison I was a teaching assistant for general and physical chemistry and taught summer outreach courses for high school students. After finishing my PhD work in December 2016, I served as a visiting faculty member at Cornell College in Mount Vernon Iowa. During the Spring 2017 semester I taught general chemistry, organic chemistry lab and conducted physical chemistry research with a student.

When I was growing up I wanted to know the composition of the materials in the world around me and why a given material had particular properties. I found chemistry had the answers to my questions. Now I am inspired by how chemistry can be used to enable green and renewable energy sources. Chemistry allows us to connect the abstract and strange world of atoms and molecules to everyday applications.

As a student, my learning was enhanced by constantly asking for clarification and attempting to craft my own explanation. As a tutor, I ask students to explain their thinking so I can find their confusion or misconception. After providing new information and examples I ask students to demonstrate their new understanding with practice problems to make sure my explanations made sense.

Outside of chemistry I enjoy playing and following sports. I ran track and cross country in high school and college. I now enjoy playing ultimate frisbee and soccer.