By Wesleyan University Staff

Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University, is among the Top 35 Women in Higher Education in the March 20 issue of Diverse.

Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University, is among the Top 35 Women in Higher Education in the March 20 issue of Diverse.

Photo: Hearst Connecticut Media File Photo

Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University, is among the Top 35 Women in Higher Education in the March 20 issue of Diverse.

Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University, is among the Top 35 Women in Higher Education in the March 20 issue of Diverse.

Wesleyan chemistry teacher among Top 35 Women in Higher Education

MIDDLETOWN Erika Taylor, associate professor of chemistry at Wesleyan University, is honored among the Top 35 Women in Higher Education in the March 20 issue of Diverse Education.

Taylor joined the faculty in 2007 and teaches courses in the areas of organic chemistry, biochemistry, environmental chemistry, and bio-medicinal chemistry, among others.

Shes also associate professor, environmental studies, and associate professor, integrative sciences, and takes a multidisciplinary approach to investigating problems at the biological chemistry interface.

Diverse acknowledged Taylor for striv(ing) to find ways to exploit enzymes found in nature to perform reactions that can help advance the fields of chemistry and medicine. Her research group has included over 75 students to date, spanning high schoolers to PhD students, with women and other underrepresented students comprising more than three-quarters of her lab members.

Taylor also serves as the faculty director of Wesleyans Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Program, which assists students from underrepresented groups in preparing for, entering, and progressing successfully through post-graduate education.

Diverse cited her for being a passionate advocate for diversity and lending time and energy to provide opportunities in science for female, minority, and low-income students.

In 2018, Taylor received Wesleyans prestigious Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching for her dedication to supporting the academic and personal development of all of her students.

Beyond Wesleyan, she founded and continues to run a Girls in Science camp for elementary through middle school-aged girls, which highlights the diversity of women in science.

Taylor holds a bachelors degree in chemistry with honors from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, a PhD in chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and was a postdoctoral research associate at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

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