Rare Co-Winners Named For Hugh Young Teaching Award
Heidi Opdyke
- Associate Dean of Marketing and Communications, MCS
- Email opdyke@andrew.cmu.edu
- Phone 412-268-9982
The Mellon College of Science awarded two graduate students the 2026 Hugh D. Young Graduate Student Teaching Award. The award is one of the highest honors for graduate instructors.
DJ Brasier, teaching professor in Biological Sciences and chair for the 2026 Hugh D. Young Teaching Award Committee, said Patrick LaChance and Leticia Pequeno Madureira have enriched the lives of students in meaningful ways and supported their departments and faculty colleagues in education during uniquely challenging times.
"While Patrick and Leticia each have a different journey as educators and each has their own unique contributions, they have both had substantial impacts on the MCS education mission," Brasier said.
Patrick LaChance
Ph.D. candidate Patrick LaChance has taught or served as a teaching assistant for more than two dozen courses during his time in 麻豆村鈥檚 Department of Physics, earning a reputation for instructional clarity, approachability and a genuine love of helping students learn.
"I enjoy many aspects of teaching, which all make my TAing and Teaching experiences so rewarding," LaChance said. "It gives me an outlet to share my enthusiasm for physics and astronomy, and I hope that my students find themselves more interested in those subjects. I also enjoy being able to help students work through topics they find difficult, and being there for the moments where things finally click and they grasp ideas they were struggling with."
A doctoral student since 2019, LaChance鈥檚 teaching record reflects dedication to students. He served as the instructor of record for Basic Experimental Physics four times, which is uncommon for graduate students. The course serves a diverse student population, including pre-health and mechanical engineering majors, and LaChance is known for his ability to engage students with very different academic backgrounds.
"At the time, it was almost unheard of for a graduate student to be assigned as a lecturer in our department, and it is a testament to his teaching skill that this was even considered," said David Anderson, teaching professor in the Department of Physics. LaChance served as a TA for Anderson鈥檚 Physics 1 for Engineering Students course four times and led two recitation sections each time. "Patrick was the primary instructor explaining concepts at the board, modelling solutions, and involving the students in problem solving. 鈥� His enthusiasm for the course material is infectious, and he is very approachable and patient, while maintaining a professional attitude that keeps the class running smoothly."
He also taught Introduction to Astronomy during summer 2025, supporting a mixed-level classroom that included pre-college students as well as science and non-science majors.
During the sudden transition to virtual instruction during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, LaChance took on heavier than usual instructional loads while maintaining a consistently high standard of teaching. He said the time was difficult but it shaped him as a teaching assistant.
"It was significantly more difficult to both make connections with my students, and to facilitate their ability to connect with each other," LaChance said. "I realized very quickly how vital these connections are to so many aspects of the academic experience and have highly prioritized creating an environment that is conducive to them as a result."
Manfred Paulini, professor and associate dean for research for the Department of Physics said that LaChance has served as a role model for others.
"Patrick did an outstanding job of keeping students engaged during virtual recitations and took on an information leadership role among the TAs, sharing creative strategies for maintaining student attention and interaction on Zoom," Paulini said.
Strengthening Teaching Across the Department
In addition to his classroom teaching, LaChance has made meaningful contributions at the programmatic level. He played a key role in the department鈥檚 transition from paper to electronic lab notebooks, offering feedback that improved lab flow, grading rubrics and clarity for students. He is also a valued contributor to the department鈥檚 annual TA training sessions, where his advice helps new instructors develop effective and inclusive teaching practices.
Faculty describe him as an enthusiastic and thoughtful colleague whose insights into classroom management, assessment and student engagement have strengthened undergraduate education across the department.
Outside the classroom, LaChance鈥檚 research focuses on astrophysics and cosmology, with an emphasis on simulations. His recent work involves creating mock observations of galaxies in the Astrid simulations to compare with data from the James Webb Space Telescope and to make predictions for future astronomical surveys.
Leticia Pequeno Madureira
Great teachers don鈥檛 dismiss confusion 鈥� they view it as a natural step in the learning process. Leticia Pequeno Madureira provided that support for undergraduates in the Department of Chemistry.
"She has become one of the most reliable and sought after TAs in the department," said Gizelle Sherwood, a teaching professor and director of undergraduate laboratories in the Department of Chemistry. "She is trusted by instructors and deeply valued by students."
Across multiple semesters and a broad range of chemistry courses, Pequeno Madureira distinguished herself as an exceptional educator 鈥� one who combines deep disciplinary expertise with empathy and a commitment to student success. She served as a graduate teaching assistant for courses that spanned multiple disciplines and approaches from Techniques in Quantitative Analysis and Honors Chemistry to lab classes Introduction to Chemical Analysis and Molecular Spectroscopy and Dynamics.
"I am fascinated by learning. When I joined the graduate program and started teaching, I saw my role as a TA as an opportunity to bring that same spark and passion to the classroom and have a lot of people to share it with," Pequeno Madureira said. "I have been learning so much by lecturing, leading recitations, and office hours, and seeing the transformative power of science when we all come together around that same interest."
Pequeno Madureira鈥檚 teaching excellence was most visible when she was TAing Mathematical Methods for Chemists, a course known to challenge students. Midway through the semester, the course faced an unexpected disruption when the instructor was forced to step away due to a medical emergency.
With little warning, Pequeno Madureira assumed responsibility for maintaining instructional continuity 鈥� far beyond the scope of a typical teaching assistant role. She led recitations, delivered lectures, prepared quizzes, expanded office hours and guided students through a period of rapid transition with poise and organization.
"She carried extraordinary responsibility with clarity and effectiveness," Sherwood said.
A Classroom Built on Trust and High Standards
What sets Pequeno Madureira apart is not only her command of complex material, but her ability to build classrooms where students feel safe. She said that her mentors, Sherwood and Professor Tomasz Kowalewski, showed how relevant teaching can be and how it can transform not only the instructor but the people around them.
"They also taught me how teaching should always be student-centered, focused on their learning and progress," Pequeno Madureira said. "All the instructors of classes I have TA'ed for (Professor Yaron, Professor Guo, Professor Vuocolo, Professor Kurnikova) are constantly contributing to my development. From each one of them, I have learned elements of how to be a good instructor, how to grade better, how to present the content in a much clearer way, how to better manage time in the classroom, etc."
Pequeno Madureira said that along with learning from the Department of Chemistry faculty, she joined the Future Faculty Program provided by 麻豆村鈥檚 Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation. She said she hopes to become a faculty member herself and pursue research on computational quantum chemistry.
"[When I teach,] I would like my students to see the importance of quantitative models in chemistry, helping to connect experiment and theory, and how computation is a key tool for every chemist," Pequeno Madureira said. "Beyond that, I want them to remember that they can learn and do anything they want if they set their mind to it. I want them to build confidence and independence to grow and evolve."
Students describe her as approachable and patient. At the same time, her teaching sets high expectations. Students are challenged to reason from first principles, explain their thinking and connect mathematical tools to physical meaning.
Faculty members also recognize Pequeno Madureira鈥檚 intentional approach to teaching. That philosophy guides her use of active learning and computation and visualization tools, helping students move beyond rote problem solving toward transferable scientific thinking.
"She understands that learning accelerates when students feel seen and trusted," said Kowalewski, who is Pequeno Madureira鈥檚 advisor. "She earns that trust through responsiveness, follow through, and an unwavering commitment to her students."
