Editor degrees

• Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Harvard University
• B.A. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California Berkeley

About Teaching and CourseSource

Rou-Jia Sung is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Carleton College. Her research is broadly focused on understanding how protein structure relates to protein function. In the lab, she uses tools from biochemistry, structural biology, molecular biology, and genetics to investigate the function of ly6 proteins, a novel family of prototoxins that share significant structural similarities with alpha neurotoxins (but are thankfully not toxic!). In the classroom, she is interested in developing new tools to facilitate the incorporation of virtual and/or physical 3D models for the teaching of macromolecular structure and function. Prior to joining Carleton, Rou-Jia was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pomona College. Since 2016, Rou-Jia has been a National Academies Scientific Teaching and Education Mentor in the Life sciences.

"I was fortunate to have attended an HHMI Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching prior to starting to teach at Pomona. Not only did that institute shape my approaches towards course design, but it also showed me that instructors do not exist in a vacuum. The community I have found with fellow instructors across different institutions and disciplines has been hugely sustaining both personally and professionally. I am very excited to be involved in CourseSource as an opportunity to continue fostering a collaborative atmosphere that engages the educational community to share innovations, successes, and lessons learned from our pursuits in the classroom."