Email address: sblock@chem.wisc.edu
Research Description
My position as assistant lab director was designed to be a hybrid between two existing positions—lecturer and general chemistry lab director. As a lecturer, I lead a large general chemistry lecture section every semester. As an assistant lab director, I help ensure that the chemistry program retains its instructional quality as enrollment increases lead to expanding lab day schedules. Further aspects of this support role include many of the common day-to-day operations and some laboratory exercise development.
The uniqueness of my position does not result from the individual tasks associated with it, but rather with the interplay between them. Whether by my direct experience or by my close interaction with a significant number of graduate students, faculty, and staff, I have the opportunity to appreciate the preferences and insights of individuals working in almost every position of the general chemistry program. The fruit of such a perspective lies in coordinating suggestions related to program structure and curriculum in order to better free each associated participant to leverage their strengths and passions for the pedagogical and infrastructural goals that lie before us.
Awards and Honors
Early Career Award, College of Letters & Science | 2016 |
James W. Taylor Excellence in Teaching Award, UW-Madison Department of Chemistry | 2015 |
University Housing Honored Instructor | 2014 |
Selected Publications
VSEPR-Plus: Correct Molecular and Electronic Structures Can Lead to Better Student Conceptual Models. Journal of Chemical Education. 2019;96:75-81. | .
Ultrafast Dynamics within the 1S Exciton Band of Colloidal PbSe Quantum Dots Using Multiresonant Coherent Multidimensional Spectroscopy. Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2014;118:5020-5031. | .
Spectral Isolation and Measurement of Surface-Trapped State Multidimensional Nonlinear Susceptibility in Colloidal Quantum Dots. Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2012;116:5546-5553. | .
Multiresonant Multidimensional Spectroscopy of Surface-Trapped Excitons in PbSe Quantum Dots. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 2012;3:2707-2712. | .
Multiresonant Coherent Multidimensional Electronic Spectroscopy of Colloidal PbSe Quantum Dots. Journal of Physical Chemistry C. 2011;115:22833-22844. | .