LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Christopher Roberts was nominated by his student, William Hobbs.

Dr. Roberts is a chemistry instructor at the South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) and has been there since August 2017. GSSM is a two-year public residential high school with an emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. It has a selective application process open to all South Carolina High School sophomores.

Dr. Roberts earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Riverside, where he also completed his post-doctoral research. He has been a tremendous addition to the GSSM community because he has demonstrated a passion for the excellence and innovation of GSSM that had been noticed by students and administrators alike. He is currently working on a project to improve the connections and abilities for students to pursue summer research in Chemistry at a number of California universities. Dr. Roberts has also developed curriculum in a number of disciplines outside of chemistry, including Computational Chemistry (Computer Science), and an interdisciplinary course on the economics, history, and chemistry of Coffee.

Dr. Roberts is actively involved in national professional networks of chemists. His postdoctoral research was completed at the University of California, Riverside, where he built upon his doctoral work in computational chemistry and created models for new, innovative treatments for cancer. He has even presented at conferences of the American Chemical Society. He is one of the most respected and highly regarded members of the GSSM faculty because he maintains professionalism in all his interactions with students and staff. These boundaries do not detract from his ability to bond with students; rather, students are able relate to him as well as highly respect his moral and ethical standards.

"I can’t even begin to describe Dr. Roberts' passion," Hobbs said. "He lights up when he talks about chemistry and engages his students in a deep conceptual understanding of concepts. He also explains to us how beautiful the discipline is – interweaving art and the humanities into his teaching, as well as real world issues. In many cases, he incorporates his research into his lessons – but with a deep sense of humility so that you would never know how incredible his mind is. It took me almost eight months to realize how few people knew how to computationally model chemical principles."

Teaching wasn’t Dr. Roberts’s "backup plan" for a career. He left very high profile, prestigious career opportunities aside to teach at community colleges and a high school, believing that excellent teaching opportunities shouldn’t be determined by a paycheck.

"His passion makes chemistry a joy for many of his students, and I have been fortunate to have learned from such an incredible man," said Hobbs.