Rate My Professor Yoram Apelblat

Dr. Yoram Apelblat serves as the General Chemistry Lab Coordinator, Faculty Service Officer, and Director of Undergraduate General Chemistry Laboratories in the Department of Chemistry within the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta. He joined the University of Alberta in 2000 as a Sessional Instructor and has focused his career on delivering introductory general chemistry courses to large student enrollments, teaching over 1,000 students per year in sections with more than 400 students each. His teaching responsibilities include CHEM 101, CHEM 102, CHEM 103, CHEM 105, and the CHEM 10X series. Previously, he instructed physical chemistry courses such as CHEM 371 and CHEM 373. In the fall of 2017, he transitioned to his current directorial role overseeing undergraduate general chemistry lab operations.

Apelblat employs innovative blended learning methods, incorporating weekly in-class demonstrations and online lectures co-developed with colleagues to enhance student engagement and understanding. His teaching philosophy highlights the centrality of chemistry in everyday life and fosters critical thinking by encouraging students to question assumptions and verify results, drawing from a formative undergraduate biology lab experience. For his outstanding performance in teaching large classes, he received the Kathleen W. Klawe Prize for Excellence in Teaching of Large Classes from the Faculty of Science in 2012 and was named the April 2018 Instructor of the Month. In addition to teaching, Apelblat has contributed to physical chemistry research through collaborations, including publications on infrared spectroscopy and solution properties. Notable works include "Absolute Infrared Intensities of Binary Mixtures of Liquid Acetonitrile with Water, Methanol, Ethanol, Propanol, Butanol, and Pentanol," "Electrical Conductances of Dilute Aqueous Solutions of Sodium Hydrogenoselenite" (Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2007), and "Vibrational Assignment and Dipole Moment Derivatives of Liquid Formamide" (Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 1999). These contributions reflect his involvement in experimental studies of liquid mixtures, optical constants, and conductivities.