Rich Taylor Email and Phone Number

University professor is generally considered one of the most satisfying occupations. Freedom in scheduling is often considered one of the perks. Yes, we can work any 80 hours of the week we wish. Organizational skills are critical as we balance periods of intense effort writing a grant, exam, or promotion letter, with lighter ones requiring idea generation and planning.Since my first research experiences, through the tense days as a graduate student, postdoc, and untenured assistant professor, I was motivated by a desire to learn or create something new. As my research interests evolved I became more interested in having a significant impact on human health by exploiting the broader expertise of my group members and collaborators in a team effort to identify new compounds with novel biological activity, to develop both synthetic and biosynthetic methods to access these compounds, and to fully explore their therapeutical potential. We are typically assigned to teach two specific courses per year at either the undergraduate and/or graduate level. The top students are stellar and challenging, the average student is engaged, and the weaker students still appreciate your effort to guide them through one of the most difficult courses at the University. Although we get little official credit, researchers have an additional teaching load, the mentorship of their graduate students, postdocs, and undergraduate researchers. It is actually this area that attracted me most to this job over one in the pharmaceutical industry.I recall seeing a resume of one university faculty member where the section entitled, “University and Departmental Service” had only one entry, "I have served on many departmental and university committees". This is true to all faculty. Through my time at Notre Dame I have tried to utilize additional department and university service positions to represent and advocate for the faculty and graduate students as we evolve and grow our research enterprise.