By joining the Chemistry Second-Year Learning Community (SLC) you will be surrounded by a small community of second-year students who are learning to navigate their academic and co-curricular pathways to make the most of their experiences as a chemistry student. The SLC program is designed to help you make the most out of your degree by engaging in various social, academic and professional development opportunities.
It's recommended that Chemistry SLC students take two or more of the following courses: CHM 210H, CHM 217H, CHM 220H/222H, CHM 223H, CHM 236H, CHM 237H and CHM 247H/249H.
For more information about Chemistry, visit the undergraduate pages on the Chemistry website.
Apply to a Chemistry SLC
Applications for the 2024-25 academic year are open until August 11.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the Chemistry SLC you must be a second-year student enrolled in any of the following chemistry undergraduate programs:
- biological chemistry specialist
- chemical physics specialist
- chemistry specialist
- synthetic & catalytic chemistry specialist
- materials science specialist
- pharmaceutical chemistry specialist
- chemistry major
- environmental chemistry major
SLC Course Overview
Students in the Chemistry SLC will meet at a welcome session during the week of September 9, 2024, and then every other week starting the week of September 16, 2024.
Time: Two sections available
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Every other week on Mondays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
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Every other week on Fridays from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Your SLC Team
Department: Chemistry
Title: Professor, teaching stream & associate chair, undergraduate studies
Years worked for your current department and/or U of T: 26 years
Undergraduate major/specialist and institution: Chemistry, University of Wales (Swansea), United Kingdom
Hometown: Cheltenham, United Kingdom
Why you decided to serve as a faculty advisor: I love meeting with and talking to students at all academic levels and part of that is helping to facilitate smaller communities within our larger Chemistry undergraduate community. I designed our CHM 151Y course community back in 2006 and when Second-Year Learning Communities were started a few years ago I was very keen for chemistry to participate. I have also been a faculty advisor to Innis College First-Year Learning Community for 19 years and am very invested in helping students to enjoy their university experience (very important!) and to be as successful as possible.
One piece of advice for a second-year student: Please feel free to reach our to me or other members of our undergraduate office as much as you can throughout your undergraduate studies: we are here to help you in all aspects of your chemistry life, including course and program selection, career pathways and research opportunities. We also want to hear from you regarding ways in which we can make your undergraduate experience even better!
Hobby or interest: Thanks to my parents, I've been a huge sports fan since being able to talk (mainly football — the English version! — and cricket) and I'm also a semi-serious runner. My latest race was the May 2024 Toronto Marathon — I'm still suffering from it now!
Department: Chemistry
Title: Chemistry undergraduate program advisor
Years worked for your current department and/or U of T: Six years in chemistry and 18 years at the University
Hometown: Toronto, ON
Why you decided to serve as a staff advisor: I think it’s a great opportunity to interact with students and introduce them to my department.
One piece of advice for a second-year student: Focus on your time management. Write out your deadlines for assignments and tests. It helps to keep you on track for academic success.
Hobby or interest: I’m an avid reader who reviews books for publishers months before they are released on shelves.
Program: Chemistry major, cell & molecular biology major, statistics minor.
Year: Three
College: St. Michael's College
Hometown: Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
An interesting fact: I love running and am currently training for a half-marathon.
Studies: The thing I enjoy most about my studies is how it informs my understanding of the world around me. As someone who uses my phone every day, I have enjoyed learning about how concepts of chemistry (e.g. electroluminescence) are applied to the function of electronics I regularly use!
Hobby or interest: I love playing card games with my friends and one of my favorite foods is pho so I'm always on the hunt for new pho restaurants to try.
Program: Biological chemistry specialist, biology minor
Year: Three
College: University College
Hometown: Hong Kong, China
An interesting fact: My hometown, Hong Kong, surprisingly has everything you could want outdoors: hills, mountains, beaches, reefs, forests and waterfalls. This is why I spent a lot of time outside and developed a strong passion for the environment. I've been lucky to have done a bunch of cool things like bungy jumping, scuba diving (I have my scuba diving license!), snorkeling, bouldering etc. I've also been able to go out on boat trips with marine scientists and do some field work, helping them conduct research on local species of dolphin and porpoises.
Studies: I really like learning about chemistry concepts and reactions that connect closely to things I like to do outside of the classroom. I love to cook, so I'm especially interested about learning about different reaction mechanisms and compound classes and connecting them to how different aromas/taste/textures are made during cooking and baking processes. I also really enjoy doing laboratory work and hope to be able further hone my technical skills and be able to synthesize compounds of higher purity and quality. I'm very excited to be able to use the skills and techniques I've learned and mastered in the classroom and use them to eventually design my own experimentation and research projects.
Hobby or interest: I love to cook and bake a lot at home when I have time and I've been trying to make my own recipes by figuring out which flavor pairings work well together and by experimenting with different ingredients. I also love to run a lot so will often go out for quick runs around the city to explore Toronto outside of campus.
Program: Biological chemistry specialist; focus in green chemistry and practical chemical analysis
Year: Four
College: Victoria College
Hometown: Vancouver, BC
An interesting fact: I am a cat lover and adopted two kittens in my second year!
Studies: I am interested in the intersection of analytical and biological chemistry, particularly how bio-analytical techniques can be applied to solve medical issues.
Hobby or interest: Outside the classroom you can find me thrifting, exploring the outdoors and spending time with my cats!
Program: Pharmaceutical chemistry specialist, pharmacology major
Year: Three
College: New College
Hometown: Johannesburg, South Africa
An interesting fact: I play the cello.
Studies: My prerequisite courses over the past year (particularly PCL201, PHC230 & PSL300/301) have piqued my interest in drug action and the importance of considering the manufacture and mechanisms for drug delivery to fulfill their intended use. The intersection of physiology, pharmacology and pharmaceutics is where I see myself best learning from this program because I think our courses give us great scope into each of these areas. The most satisfying experience was seeing that with each following course, I started to make connections to material I had seen in other courses and how that knowledge overlapped and enriched my understanding when faced with new yet foundational material.
Hobby or interest: I love to spend quality time with my friends - whether it be planning picnics at Riverdale park or study sessions at libraries around Toronto.