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Jose J. Gutierrez, PhD

Associate Professor

Department of Chemistry

UT Pan American

Few things are more rewarding for me than watching my students grow as scientists.

In my opinion, students should play an interactive role in their education. Students gain more from a class when they use the tools and guidance provided by an instructor to actually discover or understand the topics themselves. I introduce a topic to the class by presenting a hypothetical scenario or by posing a question. I then engage the class in a discussion, and we review possible answers based on their knowledge from previous courses or topics covered earlier within the same course. Students discover that once they understand some basic principles, they are able to apply them to more complicated situations, making their overall command of the subject easier than they initially expected.