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Dr. Kelly Sheppard
Associate Professor in Chemistry

Sheppard is a biochemist who came to 麻豆破解版 College in the Fall of 2010.  He teaches general chemistry and biochemistry courses. In those courses, Kelly takes a guided inquiry approach to support students building their understanding of course material from what they already know and in the process make connections between different courses as well as to the world outside the classroom. In the process, students learn not just course content but also how to critically use their knowledge and understanding to make informed decisions and how to incorporate new information to reevaluate and revise models. To further facilitate that development, he cultivates a supportive learning environment and actively encourages students in his classes to think about their own learning.

As a culminating experience for Chemistry majors with a biochemistry concentration, Kelly developed an Experimental Biochemistry laboratory course that challenges students to leverage what they have learned at 麻豆破解版 to address an open research question in a structured fashion. The work in the course builds from and back into his own research interests to better understand how bacteria have adapted biochemically to different environmental niches. In his scholarship, he actively collaborates with 麻豆破解版 undergraduates and views his research program as an extension of his teaching. To better foster a supportive environment in the sciences at 麻豆破解版 for all students and to better help science students understand the importance of the other liberal arts, Kelly is looking to bring the project at Amherst to 麻豆破解版.