Teaching

Courses taught by Prof. Laurie Littlepage at the Univ. of Notre Dame

    1. CHEM 60531: Hallmarks of Cancer and Therapy (Spring 2013, Fall 2014, 2015, 2016)
    2. CHEM 30342: Intermediary Metabolism (Spring 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018)
    3. CHEM 10101: Foundations of Chemistry (Fall 2017, 2019, and briefly in 2018)
    4. CHEM 93622 Seminar in Biochemistry (Spring 2016)
  1. Courses by semester:
    1. CHEM 60531: Hallmarks of Cancer and Therapy, Spring 2020
    2. CHEM 10101: Foundations of Chemistry, Fall 2019
    3. CHEM 30342: Intermediary Metabolism, Spring 2018
    4. CHEM 10101: Foundations of Chemistry, Fall 2017
    5. CHEM 30342: Intermediary Metabolism, Spring 2017
    6. CHEM 60531: Hallmarks of Cancer and Therapy, Fall 2016
    7. CHEM 93622 Seminar in Biochemistry, Spring 2016
    8. CHEM 30342: Intermediary Metabolism, Spring 2016
    9. CHEM 60531: Hallmarks of Cancer and Therapy, Fall 2015
    10. CHEM 30342: Intermediary Metabolism, Spring 2015
    11. CHEM 60531: Hallmarks of Cancer and Therapy, Fall 2014
    12. CHEM 30342: Intermediary Metabolism, Spring 2014
    13. CHEM 60531: Hallmarks of Cancer and Therapy, Fall 2013
    14. CHEM 60531: Hallmarks of Cancer and Therapy, Spring 2013

My Pedagogical Philosophy. Our country invests billions of dollars each year in the scientific enterprise that includes research, innovation, health care treatments, and related technologies designed to improve life or performance.  In addition, our nation is somewhat unique globally in its level of entrepreneurial opportunities and training programs aimed to foster discovery and innovation.  To continue as leaders in innovations that improve life and health, I believe we need scientists to be mentors and teachers to train the next generation about how to think logically, how science is done, and what are the benefits (and limitations) derived from science. I am committed to being one of these mentors, training both future scientists and non-scientists in both the classroom and the lab.  As an educator, I have a unique opportunity to teach future educated voters, decision makers, and scientists about “real” science and the creativity behind making discoveries.

I see teaching and mentoring as a privilege—an opportunity to help students and trainees learn and discover while they choose their career paths and gain skills that will help them in the future. As a scientist and professor, I am committed to training students and postdocs to develop strong experimental science skills, to think logically, to answer hypothesis-driven questions using evidence-based rigorous and reproducible approaches, to understand the significance of research, and to have a love for scientific discovery. My pedagogical philosophy integrates mentoring with foundational scientific knowledge, critical thinking skills, and scientific writing to prepare and inspire students to utilize course material in their future careers and contributions to society.

As a teacher I engage those I train by:

(1) Creating a comfortable learning environment to optimize the students’ abilities to question and understand the material. Because individuals learn in different ways, I tailor my methods of engaging learners to each individual.

I utilize multiple teaching strategies that make the course material accessible to a diverse community of learners. These strategies include seminars, whole class and small group discussions, problem-based learning, analysis of primary literature, practice exercises, and course assessments.

(2) Mentoring for professional success. Good mentors often make the difference in achieving success. I help others navigate their own careers by helping them identify appropriate mentors, define dreams, learn skills necessary to achieve success, and accomplish goals.

(3) Fostering diversity to improve creativity and discoveries. Scientific creativity and discoveries flow best when people from both traditional and nontraditional paths engage in the process and bring their unique perspectives to experimental design and analysis. When designing or interpreting an experiment, sometimes it is hard to recognize that personal background actually shapes our interpretations of even analytical observations or experimental design. I am committed to facilitating opportunities that move towards a level playing field for underrepresented voices to be trained and achieve success. This includes opportunities to excite, inspire, train, and empower women and underrepresented minorities in the joys of scientific discovery and STEM careers. Throughout my career, I have worked passionately to mentor, recruit, train, and retain female and underrepresented minority scientists in STEM research. I have been successful in recruiting female and minority graduate students to my lab and will continue these efforts.

I look forward to continuing to have more opportunities to train future scientists as well as those who choose other careers, both in the lab and in the classroom.