Chemistry Lecturer Barbara Belmont has been recognized as an LGBTQ+ Trailblazer in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society. Belmont, an analytical chemist from Pasadena, is “thrilled and humbled” by the accolade, which recognizes her excellence in teaching, as well as activism with Out to Innovate, a professional society dedicated to LGBTQ+ visibility in the sciences, mentoring, and scholarships for students. Having taught at CSUDH since 2002, Belmont is passionate about sparking students’ curiosity in the sciences and adopting pedagogical best practices in her lectures and laboratories. She is also a firm believer in the value of ... Read More
Chemistry
Chemistry Lab “Bootcamps” Help Get Students Up to Speed
Among the many unfortunate side effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was the loss of in-person instruction for most courses at CSUDH. Some fields of study were impacted more than others by this loss, but for students in the chemistry department it was especially troublesome. Because so much chemistry education relies on in-person lab work, most students missed out on vital hands-on experience. This summer, faculty members of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry decided to do something about it. They created and held a pair of “Chemistry Lab Bootcamps” that were designed to get students up to speed—teaching them all the valuable lab skills they missed during their many months of ... Read More
CSUDH Alumna Gracie Ann Dinkins Impacts Lives at Home and Abroad
From an early age, CSUDH alumna Gracie Ann Dinkins (’87, BA, Chemistry) was taught the value of giving back to the community. “My mother instilled the importance of service and sacrifice very early in all of her children,” she says. These days, Dinkins is living out those lessons, working as a trauma and acute care surgeon at a pair of Southern California hospitals while also helping rescue an elementary school in Liberia. Dinkins, who grew up in Liberia, was attending the University of Liberia in 1984 when political and social upheaval that would devolve into a 14-year civil war in the country disrupted her educational journey “The country experienced serious civil unrest and student-led ... Read More
CSUDH-led Consortium Receives $550,000 to Develop Hybrid, Lab-Based Biology Courses
(Carson, Ca.) The California Education Learning Lab has awarded $550,000 to California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), El Camino College (ECC), and University of California, Irvine (UCI) to develop hybrid, lab-based biology courses that offer authentic research experiences. The new program will be designed to bring lab research to a much larger number of students, and to expand with demand. Housed in the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, the California Education Learning Lab (Learning Lab) was established by state law in 2018 to “increase learning outcomes and close equity and achievement gaps in the state, particularly in the science, technology, engineering, and ... Read More
CSUDH Awarded $2.9 Million NSF Grant to Create a Master Teacher Fellows Program
(Carson, CA) – The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) Foundation a grant of more than $2.9 million to create a Master Teacher Fellows program, with the goal of developing exemplary teacher-leaders in science and mathematics for high-need K-12 schools. The Master Teacher Fellows (MTF) program is a partnership between CSUDH, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) – Local District South, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. The six-year grant was awarded through the NSF’s Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. The MTF’s goals are to increase participants’ content knowledge and pedagogical and ... Read More
