Know your Instructor!!

Know your instructor: Dr. Pathak

By taking Chemistry, you will learn how to learn.

Hello, it is mid-November in the year 2023 and Thanksgiving break is around the corner. I am writing this all about me page for the department’s website. My name is Priyadarshini Pathak, my students call me Dr. Pathak. I have a Ph.D. in Chemistry with specialization in Biological Chemistry (2012) from Stony Brook University, and a master’s in Analytical Chemistry (2001) from Pune University, India. I have 9+ years’ experience teaching General Chemistry at both University (9 years) and  Community College (3 years) in the US.

I have taught chemistry to a diverse body of students from a wide range of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds. My students range from music and accounting majors, expecting to get their feet wet in chemistry to engineering and pre-meds expecting to get a solid general chemistry education. You will hear me use the terms dimensional analysis (DA) and sig figs a lot! If you are struggling with these, feel free to stop by my office.

My experience as a mom of two and teacher of 2,000 has helped me build a dynamic teaching style in a student-centered classroom. If you peek inside my classroom, you will see my students discussing, asking questions, walking to the board to solve problems. To create this active, learner-centered classroom, I constantly reflect and re-design my lectures and assessments. I engage and feed into student’s curiosity while maintaining a high standard of general chemistry education expected in our ACS certified chemistry  department.

I ask myself the question, how can someone benefit from studying chemistry? College students can greatly benefit from making connections between their life and the chemistry they learn in the classroom. Critical thinking skills are important for all students to make decisions in everyday life and for those taking entrance examinations such as the MCAT. By taking Chemistry, students can learn how to learn.

-Dr. Pathak