Chemistry teachers wrestle with how to keep their students engaged in a subject requiring intense concentration. Bob Rosenberg has found a way to use an unexpected tactic\u2014humor\u2014to accomplish that task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He loves spontaneity, whether it\u2019s a fire alarm going off during class or a funny story thrown, without warning, into the middle of a lecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter about 15 to 20 minutes, if it looks like their eyes are glazed over, I\u2019ll talk about something else,\u201d he explains. \u201cLike, \u2018I was walking to school the other day, and this guy just cut me off. And it was so rude\u2014do you guys drive like this?\u2019 And I\u2019ll riff on that for 30 seconds or a minute, and then I\u2019ll go back. For them it\u2019s a surprise, and for me it\u2019s calculated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosenberg, who is a fan of comedians Jon Stewart, Jerry Seinfeld, and Woody Allen, says students often respond to that element of surprise and are more likely to stay with him during his classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI see myself on stage in class. It\u2019s easy to do. When an audience expects you to be funny, that\u2019s very hard. If they expect you to teach chemistry, the bar is not very high for being funny. Whether I\u2019m funny or they\u2019re laughing at me is irrelevant. I win in both cases because they\u2019re relaxing a little bit, and they can get their brain out of anxiety mode into learning mode.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rosenberg specializes in mechanistic organic chemistry and is currently studying carbon fluorine bonds. He introduces fluorine, which is not a naturally occurring organic element, into molecules and sees what those molecules do. His students help with the research, which allows students to succeed or fail in a real lab situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We give each student a lot of attention at Transylvania, and in a field like chemistry that\u2019s really important.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s so much up and down time in the lab\u2014it\u2019s like starting your car on a cold winter day. When you\u2019re young, there\u2019s a lot of waiting. As you mature, there\u2019s less of it. I have to decide: I can either tell them how to be efficient, or I can let them be inefficient and thereby learn on their own. It\u2019s typically a mix of the two. That\u2019s the tension in teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his spare time, Rosenberg is an avid squash player, and he can routinely be seen winning game after game against students in the William T. Young Campus Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ph.D., Chemistry, Yale University, 1990 Principles of Chemistry I and II Mechanistic organic chemistry Faculty Research Fellowship, Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD), \u201cSilicon (thio)urea Lewis Acid Catalysis\u2014A Mechanistic Study,\u201d 2012 Holleian Society, Transylvania University’s honorary society<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pre-Health Advisory Committee<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n \u201cCan 2-X-Ethanols Form Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonds?\u201d J. Phys. Chem. A 2019, 123(35), 7651-7660.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe Strength of Hydrogen Bonds between Fluoro-Organics and Alcohols, a Theoretical Study\u201d J. Phys. Chem. A 2018, 122(18), 4521-4529.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMicrosolvation of Fluoromethane\u201d J. Phys. Chem. A 2016, 120(38), 7519-7528.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Felkin\u2013Anh is not enough,” with Jonathan Kelly, Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry, January 2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDoes fluoromethane form a hydrogen bond with water,\u201d The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 2012<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst, meeting for those holding Research Internships in Science and Engineering, \u201cOn the international nature of science\u201d (keynote address), Heidelberg, Germany, July 2012<\/p>\n\n\n\n American Chemical Society, \u201cSolvent effects on the carbon-fluorine hydrogen bond,\u201d San Diego, March 2012<\/p>\n\n\n\n American Chemical Society, \u201cFelkin-Anh is not enough: Explaining electronic effects on diastereoselectivity\u201d and \u201cCarbon-fluorine hydrogen bonds to water: An ab initio study,\u201d San Francisco, March 2010<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reactions Mechanism Conference, \u201cDiastereoselective Nucleophilic Addition Reactions to a-Heteroatom-Substituted Ketones,\u201d Chapel Hill, N.C., June 2008<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6319,"template":"","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"academic_division":[25,7],"class_list":["post-213","faculty","type-faculty","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nAcademic History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
B.S., Chemistry, M.I.T., 1985<\/p>\n\n\n\nCourses Taught at Transy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Organic Chemistry I and II
Rational Drug Design
First-Year Seminar
Senior Seminar
The Bomb, with history professor Ken Slepyan
Galileo: His Works and His Time, with French professor Simonetta Cochis
Origin of Life, with biology professor Belinda Sly<\/p>\n\n\n\nAreas of Research<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Computational chemistry<\/p>\n\n\n\nAwards<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Jones and Kenan Grants, Transylvania University, 2008\u201312<\/p>\n\n\n\nAdditional Information<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Recent Publications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Recent Presentations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n