ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Understanding over memorization.

Joel Karty has dedicated nearly a decade developing a teaching approach and textbook that is organized by mechanism, promotes learning by doing, and provides students with the background and support they need to be successful in organic chemistry as well as pre-professional placement exams like the MCAT. Karty’s organization, conversational writing style, and interactive pedagogy facilitate understanding rather than memorization and place the emphasis back on mechanisms. Joel Karty earned his B.S. in chemistry at the University of Puget Sound and his Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry at Stanford University. He joined the faculty at Elon University in 2001, where he currently holds the rank of associate professor. He teaches primarily the organic chemistry sequence and also teaches general chemistry and physical chemistry. In the summers, Joel teaches at the Summer Medical and Dental Education Program through the Duke University medical center. His research interests include investigating the roles of resonance and inductive effects in fundamental chemical systems and studying the mechanism of pattern formation in Liesegang reactions. He has written a very successful student supplement, Get Ready for Organic Chemistry, Second Edition (formerly called The Nuts and Bolts of Organic Chemistry), published by Pearson.