Faculty Spotlight - Dr. Wen Yi Low

After hearing from some of our students, we wanted to shine a spotlight on one of our newer faculty members: 

Dr. Wen-Yi Low hasn't been at the University of Chicago for that long, but her teaching approach is already earning her rave reviews during her first quarter teaching BIOS 20175 "Biochemistry & Metabolism". Dr. Low's approach in this biochem course for non-majors focuses on learning the material and then digging deeper! Some of her students have even clashed in intellectual debate during class or lab, and on a few occassions Dr. Low feels like a mediator casting the final judgement in their perspectives on a lesson.

After talking to Dr. Low, I know that she is only too pleased to see her students diving so diligently into their explorations of the content. Her philosophy is all about helping the students find a way to engage with the concepts and theories, but Dr. Low is looking to push this even further this next Spring for the Biology majors taking her courses:

For BIOS 20200 "Introduction to Biochemistry" next year, Dr. Low will be using Meta Quest VR headsets to allow students to see biochemistry in action and at a much bigger scale than on a screen or in a textbook.

"I hope that students can better appreciate concepts like what an 'active site' means or how an enzyme during a chemical reaction looks when they see it from different angles." Dr. Low told me when we chatted about her plans for utilizing Nanome, a VR platform for pharmaseutical and molecular visualization.

Dr. Low plans to look for opportunities to use the headsets both in her courses, as well as potentially for office hours with TAs to help students get "hands on" opportunities with biochemistry. Look for BIOS 20200 this next Spring!