About BACON

'BACON' is an online tutorial designed to help connect organic chemistry to topics in human health and pop culture. The project is led by Neil Garg, a Professor of Chemistry at UCLA. It has been developed in close collaboration with Tejas K. Shah (UCLA PhD, 2016), with guidance from Associate Dean Van Valkenburgh and members of the Life Sciences Committee. UCLA students Junyong Kim, Joyann Barber, Jacob Dander, Vandan Kasar, Crystal Lin, Krishan Patel, Alison Mally, Lee Pham, Johnny Randhawa, Ganeev Singh, and Nikhil Shah have also been part of the BACON team.

About Neil

Neil grew up in Fishkill, NY and received a B.S. in Chemistry from New York University. At NYU, he did undergraduate research and also served as a teaching assistant. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2005 from Caltech with Professor Brian Stoltz and then studied at the University of California, Irvine as an NIH Postdoctoral Scholar with Professor Larry Overman. Neil joined the faculty at UCLA in 2007.

Neil's undergraduate organic chemistry course (Chem 14D) is one of the most popular classes at UCLA. It has been ranked ahead of actor James Franco's class on screenwriting, featured in LA Weekly as one of the best classes in all of Los Angeles, and has been referred to as "UCLA's Most Beloved Course". Neil has received several accolades for his teaching, including the Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award & the Eby Award for the Art of Teaching, along with the UCLA Faculty Gold Shield Prize. In 2015, he was named California's US Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

For more information, see:

• Neil's Website
• Neil's TEDxUCLA Lecture
• Chemistry Music Videos by Neil's Chem 14D Students
• Chemistry Career Videos
• Teaching & Media Coverage

About Tejas

Tejas was born and raised in Piscataway, New Jersey. He received his B.A. in Chemistry and Molecular Biology & Biochemistry from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. At Rutgers, he performed undergraduate research under Professor Daniel Seidel. He recently completed his PhD studies, studying in Professor Neil K. Garg's laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. His graduate studies focused on utilizing heterocyclic arynes in organic synthesis and nickel-catalyzed activation of amide C–N bonds.