Erik Nordquist

Erik Nordquist

Postdoctoral Research Fellow Alex MacKerell Group University of Maryland, Baltimore

The Inclusive STEM Teaching Project Course

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This online course (through the edX platform) used embodied case study videos and self-reflection prompts to train grad students, postdocs and current faculty to approach education through personal and inclusive strategies backed by the latest educational reserach.

View my certificate

Key take-aways:

  • Have empathy
  • Inclusive teaching, like most things, needs to be continually refined, never mastered.
  • Allowing time and energy to humanize everyone in the classroom who wants to share
  • Explicitly note that many pioneers of physics and chemistry were wealthy European men, while also:
    • recognizing where women and others played crucial roles in the past, and
    • insisting that anyone can learn science, and I’m eager to guide them!

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UMB Ramp Lunch & Learn

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I volunteered at the UMB RAMP program’s May Lunch & Learn activity, where a UMB researcher meets with a small group of high school students to discuss their researhc, career development and trajectory, and then give a demonstration with a hands-on activity. The students played a short game of Monte Carlo pi estimation in person, then we wrote some python code to do the same thing. While not directly related to molecular simulation, it relates a few key ideas, like how seemingly “random” events can converge on a stable value, or how useful computers can be to iterate over a simple, repeatable arithmetic task. Read more

Best of Biophysical Journal 2023!

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My paper on hydrophobic dewetting, published with Jianhan and Zhiguang, was selected as one of twenty articles in the Best of Biophysical Journal 2023! This is a big honor, and feels immensely gratifying! This was essentially my first attempt to guide the direction of a research project more directly, although Jianhan of course provided many mission-critical suggestions and corrections at every phase of the project. The honor came as a surprise since none of us knew about the honor until seeing the issue in print after the BPS Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Check it out! Read more

PhD Dissertation Defense

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I gave my final PhD dissertation defense on Monday, June 5th 2023. This was a very special day, and week, to reflect on the work I’ve done and the progress I’ve made as a scientist, and to share that progress with my family, friends, and the academic community here in Amherst. It’s been a wonderful and challenging expeirence. Read more