{"id":4756,"date":"2016-09-19T15:30:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-19T22:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/?p=4756"},"modified":"2016-09-29T10:31:25","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T17:31:25","slug":"biochemistry-professor-publishes-free-textbook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2016\/09\/biochemistry-professor-publishes-free-textbook\/","title":{"rendered":"Biochemistry professors write free textbook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics professor, Kevin Ahern’s<\/a>\u00a0online textbook,\u00a0Biochemistry Free For All<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>has just been released and is now available to download for iPads and Macs.<\/p>\n

\"Ahern<\/a>

Biochemistry professor Kevin Ahern<\/p><\/div>\n

This is the second electronic biochemistry and biophysics book by Ahern and his co-authors, Indira Rajagopal<\/a>, his wife and senior biochemistry and biophysics instructor, and former student Taralyn Tan (’08). The three co-authored\u00a0Biochemistry Free and Easy<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>(2012). \u00a0Ahern and Rajagopal, who have helped many Oregon State biochemistry and biophysics students succeed in the competitive quest for admission to medical school and other health professions over the years, have also written \u00a0Kevin and Indira’s Guide to Getting into\u00a0Medical School<\/em> <\/a>(2013). The books are extremely popular with biochemistry and biophysics majors and draw extensively on\u00a0 Ahern and Rajagopal’s decades-long experience as teachers, researchers and mentors.<\/p>\n

Co-author Tan, a former student of Ahern’s, is an outstanding young scientist with a strong interest in science education. After graduating with a degree in biochemistry and biophysics from Oregon State, Tan went on to earn a Ph.D. in neuroscience at Harvard and is currently a Curriculum Fellow in the neurobiology department at Harvard Medical School.<\/p>\n

All three books are free and available to download on iPad, iPhone and Mac for students at OSU and learners worldwide. In the first two weeks, since its release,\u00a0Biochemistry Free For All<\/em>, has been downloaded 3,500 times.\u00a0Biochemistry Free and Easy <\/em>has been downloaded 180,000 times globally since 2012. Ahern is an ardent advocate of the use of technology and digital media to enhance and aid deep scientific learning and engagement in the undergraduate classroom, and his downloadable digital textbooks and medical school guide are significant steps towards \u00a0widening access and cutting costs for students.<\/p>\n

Highly priced college science textbooks can have an acutely negative impact on students, particularly affecting first-generation students and students from low-income families who find themselves having to spend a significant portion of their financial aid on textbooks.\u00a0A 2014 study<\/a>\u00a0by the College Board\u00a0found that students spend about $1200 a year on textbooks and often end up trapped in the bleak scenario of having to work extra hours at the cost of their studies to pay for textbooks which negatively impacts their academic performance. Those who opt not to buy textbooks also invariably perform poorly in courses and fail to graduate. Thus, high costs of textbooks can be a significant roadblock to student academic success and degree completion.<\/p>\n

\"Indira<\/a>

Biochemistry instructor Indira Rajagopal<\/p><\/div>\n

An article<\/a> last year in The Oregonian <\/em>featured\u00a0Ahern as part of a growing group of concerned professors, who were\u00a0“fighting back” against steep textbook costs by writing “open-source textbooks that students access for free.”<\/p>\n

“The three of us are very concerned about cost being a barrier for access to higher education. Creating Open Educational Resources, such as these, gives us one small way to address the problem,” said Ahern.<\/p>\n

Ahern has arguably gone further than anyone else at Oregon State in integrating new media and technology into his classroom in his zeal to ensure students have access to as much free of cost biochemistry learning materials as possible. He videotapes all his survey course lectures and provides streaming and iPod content of each to his students. Ahern also has a very popular \u00a0YouTube channel<\/a>, where quite a few of his biochemistry and medical school admission lectures have been\u00a0\u00a0viewed over 60,000 times (Kevin Ahern’s Guide to Acing a Medical School Interview has garnered over 100,000 views).<\/p>\n

As in his classrooms, Ahern’s biochemistry textbooks teach the subject in an engaging way by including interactive learning modules and links to his free online video lecture. Ahern is a highly effective teacher, who has attracted renown and praise both within and beyond Oregon State for his novel methods of instruction. As a teacher, Ahern is perhaps best known for his creation of the Metabolic Melodies<\/a>, a collection of hundreds of biochemistry songs that capture biochemical processes in catchy lyrics based on popular melodies. Ahern sings to his students to make biochemistry less daunting and it has worked wonders in easing student fears in introductory biochemistry classes .<\/p>\n

Ahern’s multiple professional responsibilities span student success in professional health fields and student-driven scientific research at Oregon State. He is the head advisor and pre-medicine advisor for biochemistry and biophysics students. Since 2012 he has been the university’s Director for Undergraduate Research, a new initiative focused on promoting and expanding undergraduate students’ opportunities to conduct original research of their own.<\/p>\n

Ahern has won numerous awards for his teaching and for his work as an advisor, including the Olaf Boedtker Award for Excellence in Advising in (2000 and 2011), the National Academic Advising Association’s Outstanding Faculty Award for Faculty Advising (2013), the Loyd Carter Award for Outstanding and Inspirational Teaching (1999) and the Frederick H. Horne Award for Excellence in Teaching (2006).\u00a0He and Rajagopal were also honored with the university’s Beaver Champion Award in 2008, granted annually for outstanding effort and achievement of the highest quality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Biochemistry professor, Kevin Ahern’s online textbook, Biochemistry Free For All, has just been released and is now available to download for iPads and Macs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6617,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[640488,656646,1507,1168293,911],"tags":[127229,100210,650784,712347],"class_list":["post-4756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bb","category-breaking-news","category-faculty-and-staff","category-student-success","category-students","tag-career","tag-innovation","tag-school-of-life-sciences","tag-science-careers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6vHeb-1eI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10971,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2019\/03\/kevin-ahern-professor-of-biochemistry-and-biophysics\/","url_meta":{"origin":4756,"position":0},"title":"Biochemist wins U.S. Fulbright Scholar award","author":"cissnat","date":"March 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"A prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar award will allow Kevin Ahern and Indira Rajagopal to take their passion for teaching and mentoring to University of Malta.","rel":"","context":"In "Biochemistry & Biophysics"","block_context":{"text":"Biochemistry & Biophysics","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/departments\/bb\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5107,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2016\/10\/live-performance-metabolic-melodies\/","url_meta":{"origin":4756,"position":1},"title":"Live performance of Metabolic Melodies","author":"farrisd","date":"October 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Divine, Oregon State University\u2019s all-female A Cappella group, will perform a concert of biochemistry & biophysics professor Kevin Ahern\u2019s \u201cMetabolic Melodies\u201d on November 1, 2016.","rel":"","context":"In "Biochemistry & Biophysics"","block_context":{"text":"Biochemistry & Biophysics","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/departments\/bb\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10906,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2019\/03\/two-lives-intertwined-by-biochemistry-and-a-passion-for-teaching-burn-bright-beyond-retirement\/","url_meta":{"origin":4756,"position":2},"title":"Two lives intertwined by biochemistry and a passion for teaching burn bright beyond retirement","author":"farrisd","date":"March 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Kevin Ahern and wife Indira Rajagopal won\u2019t lose their passion for teaching anytime soon after retiring following a 30-year tenure at OSU.","rel":"","context":"In "Biochemistry & Biophysics"","block_context":{"text":"Biochemistry & Biophysics","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/departments\/bb\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/10\/Ahern-and-Divine_header.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/10\/Ahern-and-Divine_header.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/10\/Ahern-and-Divine_header.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2016\/10\/Ahern-and-Divine_header.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6929,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2017\/05\/myles-ahern-earn-first-ever-osu-phi-beta-kappa-society-student-awards\/","url_meta":{"origin":4756,"position":3},"title":"Phi Beta Kappa student awards for best instructor and best mentor go to science faculty","author":"Katharine de Baun","date":"May 22, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Congratulations to senior chemistry instructor Daniel Myles and biochemistry and biophysics professor Kevin Ahern for winning the very first Oregon State Phi Beta Kappa Society student awards!","rel":"","context":"In "Biochemistry & Biophysics"","block_context":{"text":"Biochemistry & Biophysics","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/departments\/bb\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/files\/2017\/05\/2017-mentor-adviser-400_Daniel-Myles-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9855,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2018\/07\/amber-vogel-selected-as-2018-mathews-fellow-in-biochemistry-to-study-drug-discovery\/","url_meta":{"origin":4756,"position":4},"title":"Amber Vogel selected as 2018 Mathews Fellow in biochemistry to study drug discovery","author":"farrisd","date":"July 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Ph.D. student Amber Vogel received the 2018-19 Christopher and Catherine Mathews Graduate Fellowship in biochemistry and biophysics.","rel":"","context":"In "Alumni and Friends"","block_context":{"text":"Alumni and Friends","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/people\/alumni-and-friends\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2075,"url":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/2015\/09\/mathews-graduate-fellow-announced-in-biochemistry-biophysics\/","url_meta":{"origin":4756,"position":5},"title":"Mathews Graduate Fellow announced in Biochemistry & Biophysics","author":"farrisd","date":"September 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Doctoral student Michelle Wiley receives the 2015-16 Christopher and Catherine Mathews Graduate Fellowship in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics.","rel":"","context":"In "Biochemistry & Biophysics"","block_context":{"text":"Biochemistry & Biophysics","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/category\/departments\/bb\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6617"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4756"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4825,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4756\/revisions\/4825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/impact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}