POSTDOC
Princeton University
Postdoctoral Teaching Fellows Program

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Dr. Alexander Bradley,
the Hubert Alyea Fellow, graduated from Ursinus College in 1992 and received a PhD in Chemistry at the University of New Hampshire in 1997. He has been working with Professor Maitland Jones, Jr. on a new approach to teaching organic chemistry without a lecture. Chemistry 304 uses only problem solving sessions and laboratories to teach the principles of Organic Chemistry. This year, the cooperative learning format was extended to both semesters of organic chemistry, and the class size was increased. In addition, a cadre of veteran undergraduate students were put to use as teaching assistants. This increased the level of contact and accessibility, and students seemed to be more comfortable requesting help from their peers. As in previous years, a significant majority of the students found the cooperative learning style more fun and felt they had learned and retained more knowledge and acquired new skills from the experimental class. Simultaneously, Alexander Bradley has made a major contribution in the field of photochemistry of naphthocarborane, which is expected to lead to the clinical development of this molecule as a photochemically activated chemotherapeutic agent. In fact, the initial steps have been taken to file the necessary patent and disclosure forms.