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2026 Ratner Lecturer

The “Mark A. Ratner Series of Scholars” was established by generous donations from former students and colleagues as an annual event to be hosted by Northwestern University’s Department of Chemistry. The series honors the contributions of Emeritus Professor of Chemistry Mark Ratner.

 

Janice Lawandi, Founder of The Bake School

Janice Lawandi
Developing Digital Content & Tools For Home Bakers: Using science to help everyone become a better baker

Abstract: Home bakers and cooks turn to search engines every day when they are baking to find recipes, answer baking-related questions, help them with math (conversions and scaling), or troubleshoot a recipe when it goes wrong. Science knowledge can help home bakers better understand the logic behind the ingredients and steps in baking recipes, how to troubleshoot, and how to deviate from a recipe while maximizing success in the kitchen. 

Through my website bakeschool.com, I not only share recipes, but also teach about the roles of commonly used ingredients, mixing methods, the impact of temperature, and whenever possible, the science of baking and the logic behind recipe development, substitutions and variations. I also develop digital tools for bakers, like charts, calculators, and plug-and-play spreadsheets for calculating conversion factors for scaling recipes up and down, and for applying conversion factors to any recipe. With a little science, home bakers can go beyond published recipes while becoming better bakers, not only maximizing their successful bakes, but also understanding what happens when something goes wrong. With tools and some science, home bakers can become more independent and gain confidence in the kitchen.

About Janice Lawandi

Janice Lawandi is a recipe developer, food stylist, writer and science consultant who loves to bake. With over a decade of experience, Janice creates recipes and photography for brands, writes about science in the kitchen, and helps her clients answer customer questions relating to food science and their products. Through her website bakeschool.com, Janice not only shares recipes, but also deep dives into baking ingredients, techniques, and tips and tricks, while relating baking concepts to science so that readers can better understand the “hows” and “whys” of baking, giving readers the knowledge to troubleshoot and adapt recipes. Janice was awarded Taste Canada Silver for Best Food Blog in 2017 and has worked for many major brands like Lindt Canada, Food Network Canada, Egg Farmers of Canada, The Kitchn, and Les Producteurs de Lait du Québec, among others. Her work has appeared on the pages of magazines like Ricardo magazine (Quebec) and Sweet Dreams (Germany), and even on billboards in Montreal metro stations and at Quebec festivals. 

Learn About Lawandi's Work:

Website: https://bakeschool.com – Explore her writing about baking and the science of baking

Portfolio: https://janicelawandi.com/ highlighting her work as a food stylist and recipe developer.

Social Media:

About Mark Ratner

Mark Ratner has been a Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern since 1975 and is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry, where he has served as chair on two separate occasions, 1988-1991 and 2009-2012. During his 40-plus years in the department, he mentored more than 150 students and postdocs, has been a member of the Faculty Teaching Honor Roll at Northwestern 11 times, has received the University Distinguished Teaching Award, and taught roughly 5,000 students in general chemistry. In addition, he was one of the founders of the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern and the co-director from 2008 to 2013. Ratner also served as Interim Dean for Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences from 2014-2015 and as Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1980 until 1984.

Mark Ratner is one of the most influential chemists of his generation. He is most well known for introducing to the world the concept of using a molecule—a single molecule—as a component in an electrical circuit, and this idea has spurred more than 40 years of basic and applied research. He has also written two textbooks (Introduction to Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry [2001] and Quantum Mechanics in Chemistry [1993]), two books on nanotechnology for the masses (Nanotechnology: A Gentle Introduction to the Next Big Idea [2003] and Nanotechnology and Homeland Security [2004]), and has published nearly 1000 papers in the areas of magnetism, quantum interference, organic solar cells, non-linear optics, protein folding, and self-assembly.

In addition to being one of the preeminent chemists of his time, Professor Ratner is known for his interest and scholarship in a wide range of non-chemistry subjects. In honor of those interests and drive for knowledge this series annually hosts a scholar outside the field of chemistry to spend the day interacting with students and faculty, primarily in the science and engineering departments. The scholar is chosen by a committee of students as someone who they think will spark the imagination of a broad range of scientists by immersing the Department of Chemistry in a field to which it may not regularly be exposed. 

Please join us for a reception DIRECTLY following the LECTURE IN COHEN COMMONS, TEch L482