Chemistry graduate students Mark Bezpalko, Xiachuan Cai and Fan Zhao will
be awarded Outstanding Teaching Fellow Awards this week for their excellent
work in general chemistry, organic chemistry, and advanced chemistry lab
sections, respectively. Their efforts were appreciated in many dimensions:

Mark was very effective, extremely reliable, and always well prepared and
patient with his students. During the lab he was very attentive, making sure
that his students were on the right track and showing a genuine interest in their
progress and development. He consistently did an excellent job evaluating
student work and providing advice and guidance to help them improve.

Xiaochuan had the highest numerical ratings of the graduate TFs in organic
chemistry and garnered such positive comments such as “Being very easy going
and always being ready to help a student in need” and “Very approachable and
knew the material to be covered”. Moreover, he was able to accomplish this while
still challenging his students and grading at the appropriate level.

Fan undertook the challenge to be the TF of a completely new lab course
focused on a frontier of chemistry—materials chemistry. He not only diligently
prepared each experiment, but also helped students with discussions of
background information and potential applications of the products targeted in
each experiment. He communicated well with the students, and the students
liked him very much.