The Future Faculty Graduate Student Instructor (FFGSI) program supports the professional development of graduate students who are interested in working with faculty and staff on an educational development project. Projects support the educational mission of the department and include a range of activities such as course development and outreach. Only graduate students in the UM Department of Chemistry who are assigned as a graduate student instructor (GSI) can participate. The program releases GSIs from 50% of their appointment, enabling them to devote ~10 hours a week toward their selected FFGSI project.
If you are interested in participating as an FFGSI, read the project descriptions provided below and email the faculty member who is leading the project. General questions about the program should be directed to Prof. Markos Koutmos at mkoutmos@umich.edu.
2025-2026 FFGSI Projects
Teaching Moments Project
Dr. Amy Gottfried acgottfr@umich.edu
Chemistry culture embraces "safety moments" to keep safety at the forefront of our minds and practice. We will develop "equity moments" and "inclusive teaching moments" to be disseminated at lab staff meeting to help GSIs engage in more equitable and inclusive teaching practices in the lab. These moments would also prepare GSIs with a positive way in which to respond when an unexpectedly challenging situation arises in class. Research on equitable teaching in the field of mathematics also suggests that teachers' noticing of issues related to participation and access is a step towards improved instruction.
We will start by educating ourselves and capitalize on the expertise of others with a literature search and consultation with CRLT. As we gain in our understanding of practices that promote equitable and inclusive teaching, we will draft a set of goals, guiding principles, and parameters for the teaching moments. As we put together as set of ~ 10 topics, we will search for existing materials that could be adapted them to fit our parameters. For topics without existing materials, we will draft an original script. After reaching out to CRLT and colleagues for feedback on the script, the first two teaching moments will be brought to life. They will be premiered at a CHEM 125 staff meeting for feedback. A round of editing of guiding principles and the original moments will take place. The remaining "moments" will then be developed.
CHEM 125: Transparent post lab questions for students and grading rubrics for GSIs
Dr. Amy Gottfried acgottfr@umich.edu
In a course that serves 2800 primarily first year students, providing transparency that increases clarity in what students should be doing in addition to grading rubrics that outline clear criteria for success will help students to grow their reasoning skills and confidence. Clear questions will result in better student answers with less time spent on clarifying what the questions are asking or what they are supposed to do. Clear rubrics tailored to possible student answers will minimize disparities in grading across multiple sections of the course making grading more efficient and consistent among the GSIs.
We will collect data from CHEM 125 Winter 2025 LabFlow interface including post-lab questions, student responses, grading rubrics, and application of grading rubrics by GSIs. Data will be analyzed asking: Did students answer the question asked?
What was the variance in the student answers? Were students scored consistently?
Using the information collected and transparency guidelines from CRLT's on designing rubrics4, the 50 post-lab questions and their grading rubrics will be revised for increased transparency and utility. We will have examples of student work to incorporate into the rubrics to assist GSIs in grading. As revisions are made, they will be incorporated into LabFlow.
Other project pathways could include work on lecture engagement and development of assignments for students who are not able to attend lab.
Implementation and Evaluation of GenAI-tools in Special Topics Classes in Biochemistry
Dr. Yulia Sevryugin yulias@umich.edu, Dr. Kevyn Collins-Thompson (UMSI), and Dr. Nils Walter (Chemistry)
In Fall 2023, Dr. Sevryugina and Dr. Walter developed a framework for a writing assignment that incorporated ChatGPT and U-M GPT (Journal of Chemical Education 2024 101 (7), 2740-2748, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00226). Students in an advanced undergraduate/graduate biochemistry course were tasked with creating GenAI-assisted mini-reviews on selected topics. GPT LLMs were utilized for the initial topic search and summary generation, while students refined the AI-generated content through their own literature searches. This process allowed them to critically assess GenAI outputs and benefit from peer and instructor feedback during essay revisions. The majority of students expressed high curiosity toward text-generation mechanisms and the additional capabilities of LLMs, particularly within chemistry research contexts.
Building on the scaffold developed for the writing assignment in Fall 2023, this year we are giving students the opportunity to further their educational experiences by incorporating other GenAI tools for direct interaction with lecture materials. We expect that as students work on their mini-reviews, they will refer to lectures that explain relevant material in more detail. This project has been funded by the Center for Academic Innovation. The FFGSI will assist Dr. Sevryugina in the development of the assignment and assessment protocol, in data analysis and reporting. Specific activities include analysis of students’ prompts, development and implementation of surveys, students’ recruitment for focus groups, selection and distribution of instructional materials for the class, collection of students’ feedback, as well as technical assistance and general guidance to students provided on daily basis throughout their coursework. The preference will be given to students with a strong background in biochemistry and curiosity towards exploring GenAI tools.
Chem 516 - Professional Skill Development in Chemistry
Dr. Charles McCrory cmccrory@umich.edu
Chem 516 aims to prepare University of Michigan Chemistry PhD students for their future professional careers by complementing skills gained through the completion of a research-based thesis with instruction in: proposal writing; reading and analyzing publications; communication; and academic professional guidelines in Chemistry. The FFGSI will assist in shaping and implementing the curriculum including designing training exercises, developing assessment rubrics, creating evaluation metrics, and coordinating with programming partners including the UM Library, Sweetland Writing Center, Rackham, and CAPS.
CHEM 260, 461, 463 (Physical Chemistry) Development of Interactive Computer Demos for Undergraduate Physical Chemistry Courses
Dr. Eitan Geva eitan@umich.edu
A new pedagogy, called Compute-to-Learn (C2L), is being implemented within the framework of a supplemental, peer-led weekly 2 hour session, in a studio environment, where undergraduate students enrolled in introductory Physical Chemistry courses (Chem260 and Chem230) collaborate to create interactive computer demonstrations of basic Physical Chemistry concepts, using Wolfram Mathematica (a powerful computing environment commonly used in academia, industry, and education). The C2L pedagogy emphasizes action-based learning activities designed to promote students’ integration of new idea, within a collaborative apprenticeship environment that mimics the authentic experience of how science is done in real life. Senior undergraduate students who participated in a previous iteration of the studio serve as peer leaders whose role is to guide activities and help the students stay on track towards completing the project within the 13-week semester. The FFGSIs assigned to this project will be charged with further development of the pedagogy and assessment tools of its impact on students learning and outlook, as well as training, supervising and mentoring the undergraduate peer leaders and coordinating studio activities.”
CHEM 210, 215 (Organic Chemistry) Resource Development
Dr. Nicole Tuttle ntuttle@umich.edu
This FFGSI would develop a resource pack for students (largely through curation of existing materials) and support materials for instructors in Chem 210/215. This position is coordinated by Dr. Tuttle, but supported by faculty who have been teaching 210/215 and/or have an interest in the course. This collective group has generated substantial 210/215 resources and questions over the years. We will organize and curate those resources to make them more broadly useful to instructors. This curation could involve aligning to learning objectives and making note of places where there are gaps in the resources. We plan to end the semester with a resource pack that could be distributed to students with supporting information for instructors.
