Kevin M.
Private tutor in San Diego, CA
Education
I earned my B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of California-Davis. After taking a couple years to work in a cell and molecular biology lab as a research technician, I returned to UC Davis to complete an M.S. in Comparative Pathology and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry.
Experience
I have tutored and taught general and organic chemistry at the college level for more than 5 years. I enjoy teaching and tutoring chemistry because I feel it gives me an opportunity to help students excel in and appreciate (maybe even learn to enjoy!) a subject matter than many find challenging and often impossible to grasp. Too often, and unfortunately, it seems chemistry is taught as this subject that one either understands or does not, and instructors rarely take the time to slow down and help students who do not immediately grasp the material to overcome their struggles. In this case, students become frustrated, do not potentially do as well in a course as they would have liked, and ultimately develop a distain for chemistry. This makes me sad. One of the stories people often tell me which I dislike most goes along the lines “I would have become (insert career here) if I didn’t have to take chemistry.” Whether it’s a person's passion or just a class they need to get through, chemistry is fascinating and amazing, and my aim as an instructor is to make chemistry accessible to anyone who is trying to learn it. Learning chemistry is challenging, but it’s not impossible, and it’s worth it (even if your aim isn’t to be a chemist): If the chemical reactions in our bodies stopped working we’d die! If water didn’t have the chemical properties it does, then life as we know would not exist! C’mon, doesn’t that make you want to know more about chemistry? ;) During graduate school I taught and tutored undergraduate organic and general chemistry lecture, lab and discussion material. Near the end of my PhD I had the opportunity to teach an entire organic chemistry class, which I found fun and very rewarding. In my role as professor for the course I developed lectures and labs, and held weekly review sessions and posted daily problems to help students better understand the material. Although chemistry does involve some memorization, my focus is to get students to think about how to recognize and approach solving problems. To this end I have students work on problem solving skills and how they should be thinking of/approaching problems. If a student learns a method of how to approach and think about problems, I find it helps them with answering questions more efficiently and with greater confidence. In this regard, as a tutor I do my best to tailor our sessions to the needs of the student and based on what they are covering in class. I have found this allows us to use our session time more efficiently and the student tends to get more out of it. I recently finished a year long postdoctoral research training position at The Scripps Research Institute where my work focused on medicinal chemistry for neglected tropical diseases and stem cell biology. If you think I may be able to help you with your chemistry needs, please do not hesitate to contact me!
Availability
Any day at any time
Can Meet
Up to 20 minutes away for no additional charge
Hobbies
As a Northern California native I grew up spending a lot of time in the sierras and enjoy backpacking, hiking, mountain biking and being out doors in general. I also enjoy studying and playing jazz piano, and riding my motorcycle all over San Diego.
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