Music and O-Chem: Chemistry professor asks for creativity from science students

To most undergraduate and graduate students of UCLA, Neil Garg was the average South Campus professor. He lectured three times a week. He administered difficult midterms and finals. Some students passed his class with flying colors, and others failed miserably.

But Garg was much more than just another professor students’ experience here at UCLA.

Raised in Fishkill, New York, Garg grew up expecting, like many others, to attend medical school and become a doctor. As a chemistry undergraduate at New York University, Garg had originally taken the pre-med path with the intention of becoming a doctor. But life quickly took him a different direction, as he found himself on the path of becoming an instructor. “As an undergraduate, I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do.” He soon found himself in an inorganic chemistry laboratory, though, and it was here that he developed a passion for teaching. “I did research, working with other undergraduate students who trained me. They were the ones who taught before me and planted the idea in my head that I should give [teaching] a try […] So I think as early as my sophomore year as an undergraduate at NYU I [became a T.A.] and I really enjoyed it. I did it my junior year and my…Click Here to Continue Reading.