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- The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is delighted to present our newest faculty member, NIH K99 recipient Dr. Juan Hu, who will start working with us in Fall 2024! Welcome!
- Prof. Byron Purse is the recipient of a recent Faculty Innovation Fellowship! Congratulations, Byron!
- Undergraduate researcher Molly Hedin in the Cooksy group received an undergraduate research award for her presentation at SDSU's 2024 S3 student symposium. Congratulations, Molly!
- The members of our own Chemistry Grad Students Association played a major part in the 2024 STEM Festival at Snapdragon Stadium! See Jessica Torres (Harrison lab)'s appearance on the local CBS News story. Thank you, CGSA!
Andrew L. Cooksy: K-12 Outreach Programs
tel: 619-594-5571
email: acooksy@sdsu.edu.
ELIM BIO YouTube presentation
During the COVID-19 shelter-in-place in Spring 2020, ELIM Biopharmaceuticals sponsored a series of invited YouTube talks by scientists to describe their work and take questions from K-12 students across the country. This is my presentation on the physical chemistry and astrochemistry of the hydrocarbons we study in my group.
3D Molecular Modeling Workshops for Middle and High Schools
My students and I have an ongoing program to bring state-of-the-art molecular visualization software into high school classrooms, to let students explore the richness, diversity, and symmetry of chemical structures. Working with chemistry teachers at several area schools, we have developed worksheets to help guide the student and to ensure that our time in the classroom contributes to the goals of the class. Check out our appearance at Castle Park Middle School.
If you are a chemistry or physical sciences teacher in the San Diego area and would like us to visit your classroom, please email me.
Funding for this project has been provided by the National Science Foundation's Division of Chemistry, by the President's Leadership Fund of SDSU, and by the SDSU College of Sciences. Andrew Cooksy also thanks Gaussian, Inc. for support, and the many SDSU undergraduates who have assisted in these presentations.
City and International Science Fairs
I regularly serve as a Chemistry Panel Co-Chair for the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), and I was invited to join the Local Organizing Committee of the 2020 Fair to be held in Anaheim. I am also a chronic chemistry judge at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair.
K-12 Teacher Workshop Programs
The San Diego Cyberbridge program, an ITEST program, trained teams of high school and middle school teachers to work together, applying project-based learning to their curriculum. Science provides the foundation for each project, and the program stands out by virtue of its encouragement of diverse teams that include teachers specializing in math, English, and history, as well as the sciences. In 2009/2010, I worked with teachers at Castle Park High and Southwest High in Chula Vista. They developed amazing projects that study the state of the oceans and how we can prevent their decline and on how food choices influence our well-being. In 2010/2011, I worked with teachers at Castle Park Middle School to develop a project focused on the importance of change in science, math, and U.S. history.
Subsequently, I Worked with teachers Lynn Shevinsky and Don Whisman to develop and teach a summer workshop on Matter for 5th and 8th grade teachers. This project was sponsored by an IDEAS grant from the Department of Education and supervised by the K-12 Alliance. In 2019, I worked again with the Alliance to help 6th grade teachers in the San Marcos school district develop materials based on the new Framewaork for K-12 Science Education from the National Academy of Sciences.