Martin Husemann: That's true. Teaching is also a very important part of what we do.

GS: How did you find out about teaching at Baylor? What was your initial experience like?

MH: I started teaching three days after I got to Baylor, which was kind of a challenge to get directly into that.  It was a summer class, which meant there were not as many students.  That made it easier for me.  In general, the class was well-organized by that point, and the coordinator had a lot of extra time, too.  So, I had the guidance I needed at the beginning.  Later, I had the opportunity to design my own class, but in general the lab classes I am teaching are not that much different than classes I taught before, so it wasn’t too much of a transition.

GS:  You won the Most Outstanding Graduate Instructor award at Baylor.  In your opinion, what makes a good teacher, and what are the secrets of being a great graduate instructor?

MH:  On one hand, the subject always helps.  If it is an interesting course, it helps get the students excited.  On the other hand, the class I am teaching really relates to my interests, so I am able to share with students a lot of my experiences.  Fortunately, I've had some really great experiences - traveling to Morocco, Malawi, and Siberia for my research.  I think they see that I care about what we do, and I want to share that with them.

GS:  So, what is it like in your class?

MH:  There is an opportunity for a lot of independent work, and I think students appreciate that I allow them to make mistakes.  I usually try to teach them in a way so that it seems like a real-life thing.  I try to teach them how to be good lab member, and I have heard from students later on that it actually helped them with their research, too.  They learned to keep a lab notebook, they had to give a presentation, so I just tried to give them a real-life research experience.

Sort of a funny side note, I tell them that research means you are failing more than half the time.  A lot of research is going through those hard phases when it doesn’t work.  You have to figure out a way to finally get it working.  Sometimes it is just patching stuff together.  It’s overcoming problems, which is applicable to lots of other things.  They, very often, have not had this experience.

GS: You are teaching classes, working on your own research, writing grants, and supervising undergraduates.  That really is the life of a professor.  How has that been?

MH: It’s not always easy to combine teaching and research because both take a lot of time. Sometimes researchers feel that teaching gets in the way of the work they wish to do. I don’t feel that way. When it’s done right it is a very meaningful collaboration.

I worked with one student on an undergraduate research grant.  Now, he is a co-author on a paper, he has given a presentation himself, and he co-authored a poster at an international conference.  When we think of our students as partners in our work, it changes what is possible.  It’s nice to have these interactions with undergrads where everybody gets something out of it, and I hope that continues.

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