Teaching and Advising of Students

 

MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY:

o       Undergraduate courses taught in the capacity of Assistant Professor:

            PHYS 2210                            Waves and Optics

                                                            (Fall 2008)

            CHEM 3501/BIOL 3501       Introductory Biochemistry

                                                            (Falls 2006, 2007, and 2008)

            CHEM 3502/BIOL 3502       Intermediary Metabolism

                                                            (Winters 2007 and 2008)

            CHEM 352L                          Intermediary Metabolism Laboratory

            (Lab - CHEM 3502)              (Winter 2008)

            CHEM 3301/PHYS 2301     Introductory Quantum Chemistry / Modern Physics

                                                            (Fall 2007)

            CHEM 2301                          Chemical Thermodynamics

                                                            (Fall 2006)

            CHEM 2302                          Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics

                                                            (Winter 2007)

            CHEM 232L                          Chemical Kinetics and Dynamics Laboratory

            (Lab - CHEM2302)               (Winter 2007)

            CHEM 3012                          Directed Study in Chemistry

                                                            [Winter 2008 (Matt Loranger), winter 2007 (Alya A. Arabi)]

            CHEM 4990                          Honours Thesis

                                                            [Fall 2007, Winter 2008 (Alya A. Arabi)]

 

 

McMASTER UNIVERSITY:

o       Graduate course taught in the capacity of Adjunct/Visiting Professor:

            CHEM 705                             Introduction to Computational Chemistry

                                                            (Fall 2004)

 

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

o       Laboratory Instructor:

            CHM 138                               Organic Chemistry

                                                            (Fall 2003, winter 2004)

o       University of Toronto Chemistry Teaching Fellowship (CTFP) Award Winner and Curriculum Developer:

            CHM 447                               Biological Chemistry

                                                            (Fall 2003, winter 2004)

o       Instructor/Lecturer with PREP101 Inc.,[1] Toronto, ON, Canada:

            PHYS 138                              Physics for the Life Sciences

                                                            (Fall 2003, Winter 2004)

 

McMASTER UNIVERSITY

  • Undergraduate courses taught in the capacity of Teaching Assistant and/or Laboratory Instructor during the Period 1996-2001:[2]

            CHEM.1A03                          Introductory Chemistry I

            CHEM.1AA3                         Introductory Chemistry II

            CHEM.2R03                         Physical Chemistry for the Life Sciences

            CHEM.2P03                          Thermodynamics and Phase Equilibria

            CHEM.3BA3                         Quantum Mechanics and Spectroscopy I

            CHEM.3BB3                         Quantum Mechanics and Spectroscopy II

            CHEM.3Z03                         Directed Reading in Physical Chemistry: 

                                                            Properties of Materials

            CHEM4B03                           Chemical Applications of Spectroscopy

 

SOUTHERN ONTARIO COLLEGE

o       Secondary School Teacher:

            OAC-MATH                           Ontario Academic Credit (OAC)[3] Finite Mathematics

                                                            (Winter 2000)

 

Graduate and Undergraduate Thesis and Project Supervision

 

MOUNT SAINT VINCENT UNIVERSITY (2006-Present)

o       In the capacity of Assistant Professor at MSVU (and in that of an Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University):

      *           Ph.D. Thesis: “Local Quantum Chemistry”, Hugo J. Bohorquez, Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University (In Progress). (Co-supervised with Professor             Russell J. Boyd).

      *           Ph.D. Thesis: “Theoretical Investigation of Key Biochemical Systems (ATP and DNA) using a New DFT Functional”, Alya A. Arabi, Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University (In Progress). (Co-supervised with Professor Axel D. Becke).

      *           Honors Thesis: “Atomic Partitioning of the Energy of Reaction: The Hydrolysis of a Fuel Biological Molecule, Adenosine 5’-Triphosphate (ATP)”, Alya A. Arabi, Department of Chemistry, Mount Saint Vincent University (jointly with the Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University). (Successfully Completed in 2008).

      *           Jeanne Sauvé Research Assistant (Computational Chemistry): Alya A. Arabi, Department of Chemistry, Mount Saint Vincent University (summer 2007). Resulted in a joint publication:

                        C. F. Matta, A. A. Arabi, T. A. Keith; J. Phys. Chem. A 2007, 111, 8864-8872.

      *           Directed Research in Computational Chemistry: Alya A. Arabi, Department of Chemistry, Mount Saint Vincent University (winter 2007).

      *           USRA in Computational Chemistry: Alya A. Arabi, Department of Chemistry, Mount Saint Vincent University. (summer 2008). (Two papers resulting from this research are currently near completion).

      *           Directed Research in Computational Chemistry: Matthew Loranger, Department of Chemistry, Mount Saint Vincent University (winter 2008).

      *           Research Assistant (Computational Chemistry): Matthew Loranger, Department of Chemistry, Mount Saint Vincent University (summer 2008). (A paper resulting from this work and from this work in collaboration with Professor Don Weaver of Dalhousie University is currently in progress).

 

DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY (2002-2004)

o       In the capacity of Killam Postdoctoral Fellow within the Research Group of Professor Russell J. Boyd:

  • From 2004-2006 while a Killam PDF at Dalhousie University in the group of Professor Russell J. Boyd I was assigned the supervision of Norberto Castillo, a Ph.D. student at the time. I introduced and trained him on several aspects of theoretical, quantum, and computational chemistry. This supervision resulted in the following publications:

     Thesis:

·      N. Castillo, The Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules as an Interpretative Tool in Chemistry, Ph.D. Thesis, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada 2006.

     Joint Refereed Papers:

·      N. Castillo, C. F. Matta, R. J. Boyd; Chem. Phys. Lett. 2005, 409, 265-269.

·      N. Castillo, C. F. Matta, R. J. Boyd; J. Chem. Inf. Mod. 2005 , 45, 354-359.

·      C. F. Matta, N. Castillo, R. J. Boyd; J. Phys. Chem. A 2005, 109,  3669-3681.

·      C. F. Matta, N. Castillo, R. J. Boyd; J. Chem. Phys. 2006, 125, 204103_1-    204103_13.

·      C. F. Matta, N. Castillo, R. J. Boyd; J. Phys. Chem. B 2006, 110, 563-578.

o       During 2005-2006 (while a PDF at Dalhousie University) I have also been asked to supervise Alexis Taylor (a Ph.D. student). I was also asked to suggest a research topic for her and train her to solve it. The work resulted in the following joint paper:

·      A. Taylor, C. F. Matta, R. J. Boyd; J. Chem. Theor. Comput. 2007, 3, 1054-1063.

 

Teaching Award for Curriculum Development at the University of Toronto

 

            Chemistry Teaching Fellowship (CTFP) Award for 2003-2004

            (University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada)

Citation:

“...for his innovative undergraduate pedagogical tools in the instruction of chemistry...”

 

Publications on the Teaching of Chemistry and Chemical Education [4]

1.    Matta, C.F. and Gillespie, R. J. (2002) “Understanding and interpreting molecular electron density distributions” The Journal of Chemical Education 79, 1141-1152.

2.    Gillespie, R. J. and Matta, C.F. (2001). "Teaching the VSEPR model and electron densities", Chemistry Education: Research and Practice In Europe. 2(2), 73-90.

 

Supervision of Educational Workshops:

Selected by the Center of Leadership and Learning of McMaster University to design, organize, and conduct workshops for new teaching assistants:

Sept. 2001                       “Teaching in a Different Culture: Focus for International Students”

Sept. 1999                       “Dealing with Academic Dishonesty”

 


[1] A private institute with the mission of group tutoring of university students, with special emphasis on reviews, problem solving, and preparation (hence the name “PREP”) for term tests and final examinations.

[2] I taught most of the listed courses more than once, often as many as four or five semesters.

[3] Final year of secondary school in Ontario.

 

[4] These two publications are cross listed in the cumulative, life-long, complete list of publication on pages 11-16 of this CV.