Professor Darrin York was one of ten faculty members honored this week with the SAS Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Education. These awards are presented to faculty members within the School of Arts and Sciences who are recognized for their accomplishments in the area of undergraduate education, both within and beyond the classroom.

York, who has been with the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology since 2010, was cited for his work in creating the new Chemistry Lecture Demonstration facility (CLD). The CLD is devoted to providing the highest level of educational experience possible through bringing live chemistry demonstrations into the classroom, thereby encouraging more young students to pursue a degree in chemistry.

He has developed the General Chemistry eLearning System (GCeLS), an interactive e-learning system that will debut in the fall. GCeLS' unique structure will gear itself toward the academic ability of each individual student and allow faculty members to see in which areas students are having problems. It will also place chemistry concepts in a practical context, eschewing the rote number-crunching that often causes students to lose interest in chemistry.

Professor York also has been active in promoting undergraduate research and upper-level undergraduate instruction, including the development of two new undergraduate classes: “Chemical Dynamics” and “Chemistry and the Marine Environment.”

Read more about Darrin York and the rest of this year's award winners at the School of Arts & Sciences website.