The Itch to Heal
With unconventional thinking honed at WPI, Elzani van Zyl tackles the scourge of malaria.
Read StoryAnita Mattson knows her field of expertise has a reputation for being, well, difficult. Organic chemistry courses are often considered overwhelming, scary, and make-or-break for students who want to pursue careers in the sciences or attend medical school. Mattson, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, admits that organic chemistry even scared her when she was an undergraduate student—until she realized she loved the subject.
“It turned out I was strangely good at organic chemistry, and it made me wonder who else might be good at it but never knew because they were too scared to try,” Mattson says.
Now Mattson, a synthetic organic chemist, is working to help her students find a similar positive, emotional connection to organic chemistry by developing a series of six colorful, educational comic books with the simple title Organic Chemistry. The short books feature puns, references to pop culture, mermaids, narwhals, and a caped superhero who can soar through a universe of acids. Characters explore the notations, or “secret codes,” of organic chemistry and ponder the chemical makeup of apples, burgers, and coffee, all while teaching important concepts.
Anita Mattson
Mattson, who envisions the books as tools she can use in her classroom alongside traditional textbooks, wants students to know this: Organic chemistry is not a scary monster, lurking in the undergraduate curriculum. It’s a creative field that can be approachable and accessible to many different people.
The choice to tackle organic chemistry through comic books, sometimes also known as graphic novels, may seem unconventional. The chemistry of molecules that contain carbon is typically taught through lectures, textbooks, and lab classes. Courses are intense and require students to grapple with abstract concepts.
Students often do not study organic chemistry in depth until college, so they must quickly learn to decode the notations for chemical structures, recognize functional groups, and memorize details about reagents, solvents, reactions, and more. To succeed at the undergraduate level, students must be able to apply all that they learn to solve problems.
Mattson began developing ideas for her comic books during the COVID-19 pandemic and rolled out early versions in her classrooms during the 2024 academic year. The effort brought together her interest in visual design and a drive to change perceptions about organic chemistry.
“There is a traditional way of teaching organic chemistry that some people regard as harsh and unwelcoming,” Mattson says. “There’s also a perception that people have to be naturally talented to succeed in a course. I do not believe that’s true. I believe that literally anyone can learn organic chemistry.”
Mattson started by drawing illustrations on an iPad. She showed the drawings to her students, who encouraged her to keep going. Thinking that it would be wise to involve a professional artist in the project, Mattson then connected with Anton Brand, an independent illustrator in the United Kingdom, through a website for freelance illustrators.
The first two books were published in 2024 and are available on Amazon. Mattson expects to publish the remaining four books by fall 2025. She also plans to convert the series of books into an immersive digital textbook, with support from a Summer Sandbox Grant from the WPI Office of Undergraduate Studies.
Raúl Orduña Picón, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, says Mattson’s comics have the potential to disrupt traditional ways of teaching and learning organic chemistry.
“The graphic novels offer an alternative way of thinking, doing, and being in organic chemistry education,” Orduña Picón says. “By paying attention to the stories and characters, students can notice how multiple identities and daily life contexts are related to the field. Students may feel encouraged to employ analogies to think about it and to use their own experiences, interests, and cultural practices to make organic chemistry more concrete and relevant to their lives.”
Raúl Orduña PicónBy paying attention to the stories and characters, students can notice how multiple identities and daily life contexts are related to the field.
The comics have resonated with Annika Swanson ’27, who is majoring in biochemistry and encountered the comic books on her first day in Mattson’s organic chemistry course. Initially, Swanson says, she was skeptical that comics could address such a challenging subject.
“But as the class progressed, I realized that learning organic chemistry was all about perspective,” Swanson says. “The graphic novels helped break down the mental barriers that made this area of science feel inaccessible to me. They simplified complex concepts into something I could grasp.”
As Mattson integrates the comic books into her courses, she and Orduña Picón will study how the material impacts students’ sense of identity in chemistry. A larger goal is to identify strategies that can make organic chemistry education feel more welcoming and inclusive to all students.
“I love organic chemistry, and I’m really glad I became an organic chemist,” Mattson says. “But now I’m also interested in doing what I can to make the field more accessible to a bigger group of people. That would be a powerful thing to do.”
I think Anita has pioneered an exciting new way to teach science!
Congratulations to Anita Mattson and Raúl Orduña Picón on their innovative project to make organic chemistry more accessible and engaging for students through their comic book series, “Organic Chemistry”! Your efforts to change the perception of the subject and foster a more inclusive learning environment are truly commendable.