Teaching Experience
At A Glance
Courses Taught
New Gen Ed Summer 2024! ChE 118 Plastics in Society (Syllabus) (Open to all; consider registering in Summer 2024! Registration info coming soon!)
ChE 325 Thermodynamics II (Syllabus)
ChE 518 Green Chemical Engineering (Syllabus)
ChE 583 Polymer Processing & Sustainability (Instructor, 2 semesters) (Syllabus)
ChE 446 Process Dynamics & Control (Instructor, 2 semesters) (Syllabus)
CHEG 4142 Unit Operations & Process Simulation (Instructor, 3 semesters)
CHEG 3124 Heat & Mass Transfer (TA, 1 semester)
CHEG 5301 Thermodynamics, Graduate-Level (TA, 2 semesters)
ENGR 1166 Foundations of Engineering (Head TA, 1 semester)
Key Publications
LaChance, A.M., Pascal, J., Gan, D., Welsh, J.J.P., Pauly, T., Paul, P. “Teaching Environmental Justice Principles to Chemical Engineering Seniors: An Anti-Racist, Collaborative Approach,” Proceedings of the American Society for Engineering Education, 2021. Paper ID #33189. (Publication) (Presentation)
Smith, A.T., LaChance, A.M., Zeng, S., Liu, B., & Sun, L., “Synthesis, properties, and applications of graphene oxide/reduced graphene oxide and their nanocomposites,” Nano Materials Science, 1, 1, 2019, pp. 31-47. (Elsevier)
LaChance, A.M., Hou, Z., Farooqui, M.F. et al. “Polyolefin films with outstanding barrier properties based on one-step coassembled nanocoatings.” Adv Compos Hybrid Mater, 2022. (Springer)
Mentoring (as a UConn Graduate Student)
15 undergraduate students (100% under-represented in STEM)
3 high-school students
Teaching Philosophy
“What does STEM have to do with social justice?” (ah yes, the question that will haunt me my entire life…unless I do my job right!)
Engineers are the architects of society, from city planners to wastewater treatment plant designers to biomedical device makers. To empower our students to build a more just world, we can’t just teach to the textbook; we need to teach our students about engineering ethics, as well as the principles of environmental justice, disability justice, reproductive justice, and more.
We also have a responsibility to teach students about collaboration, care, empathy, and building resilience within their communities.
STEAM Zines
What if a syllabus was more than a list of readings and rules?
For my Fall 2021 run of Unit Operations & Process Simulation at UConn, I collaborated with artist and activist Nia Samuels, who was also a student in this class, to create a more profound course syllabus.
Inspired by Dr. Carmen Kynard and rooted in radical, queer, traditions of knowledge-sharing, the syllabus took the form of a zine, featuring original artwork by Nia, affirmations for struggling students, advice for how to be successful in the course, and a means for student to track their course progression.
Exemplifying new ideas about how to integrate the Arts in STEM, STEAM Zines and the practice of making accessible syllabi help establish the tone of your course on day one. For advice on developing your own syllabus zine, just ask Anna Marie using the Contact page.
I improved upon by zine in the Fall 2023 run of Process Control at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. For a printable version of this zine, feel free to email me.
For my original Fall 2021 Unit Operations zine, click here.
Honors and Awards
2024 College of Engineering Diversity Equity, & Inclusion Award - Plaque and $500 cash prize awarded by the UMass Amherst College of Engineering.
2023-2024 Civic Engagement & Service Learning (CESL) Fellowship - $1000 stipend for developing a service-learning course in plastics education and outreach.
17th Annual Women of Innovation® Award, CT Technology Council - Inspiring STEM Equitability category winner. Recognizes women in Connecticut who are leaders in promoting equitability, diversity, and inclusivity in the STEM curriculum. The first openly transgender person to win the award across all categories in its 17-year history.
2020-2021 Stephanie H. Shaw Scholarship Award - Plaque & $3000 cash prize award by the Polymer Program, Institute of Materials Science at the University of Connecticut. Recognizes a female graduate in the field of polymer science and engineering that has excelled in both research and activities in the UConn community.
2021 Spring CBE TA Award - $800 cash prize awarded by the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Connecticut for outstanding graduate instruction
2021 Excellence in Graduate Polymer Research Award - Certificate & cash prize awarded by the Division of Polymer Chemistry (POLY) of the American Chemical Society at the 2021 ACS National Conference
Semi-Annual Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship - Graduate Fellowship awarded by the University of Connecticut
PPS Graduate Student Travel Award for 2021 - Recognition of excellence in graduate polymer research. Cash award to attend the 36th International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society (conference delayed from 2020 to 2021)
2021 General Electric Innovation Fellowship - Graduate Fellowship awarded by the University of Connecticut
2020 GAANN Fellowship - Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need
2019 Navy STEM Fellowship - Graduate Fellowship awarded by the Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Technical Research
My former research interests were in thin-film transport, polymer nanocomposites, and biodegradable/compostable plastic films.
My work in Dr. Luyi Sun’s group as a PhD student resulted in more than a dozen publications, a patent for a novel nanocomposite assembly method, and numerous female engineers pursuing advanced STEM degrees.
Essentially, the plastic we use to package our food is not compostable and doesn’t even do a great job at blocking out harmful species (oxygen, water, etc.) My PhD work was focused on developing strategies to coat polymer substrates to make them impermeable to oxygen and water vapor, all which using green & scalable methods to do so.
With more than a dozen publications, several conference presentations, and a patent under my belt, I guess you could say I’m a bit of a “film” buff.
See my full CV for more detailed information.