Being a professor is not as easy as it seems. Yes, you can lecture until you’re blue in the face, but are you engaging with your students? Are your students learning anything?

Dr. Cyren Rico, assistant professor of chemistry, wants his students to leave with a knowledge and maybe even a love for chemistry.

To make that a reality, he attended a workshop Aug. 2-4 in Washington, D.C.

The New Faculty Workshop is for professors in their first or second year of teaching. Only 75 people nationwide were asked to participate.

Rico said it was nice to know that other professors were experiencing similar challenges in their first years of teaching. He said he knows he can ask these people for teaching resources later.

The workshop focused on short, engaging activities with short lectures. The workshop stressed that lecturing is not an effective way to reach students.

“I think the most important take home message for me was to make my teachings and classroom activities interesting and relevant to the students,” Rico said.

Rico, who teaches environmental chemistry, is excited to present a complex field in new ways.

“Most people equate environmental chemistry to the idea that chemicals are toxic and harmful to the environment,” Rico said. “They fail to appreciate the beauty of the chemical reactions and pathway mechanisms involved in the movement, changes and effects of these chemicals.”

Armed with his new knowledge, Rico wants to heighten students’ appreciation for analytical process and critical thinking.

“I hope to help students appreciate what they learn from other courses and their own creativity,” Rico said. “That way they can apply them all together to make their own ‘aha’ moments.”