ESP Biography



SAMUEL CADY, Stanford junior studying Chemical Engineering




Major: Chemical Engineering

College/Employer: Stanford

Year of Graduation: 2015

Picture of Samuel Cady

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Hi! I'm a Stanford undergraduate majoring in chemical engineering who also loves to cook. This past year, I spent a little over five months in France, the birthplace of molecular gastronomy and the home of some amazing food. Now that I'm back, I want to put my passion for cooking to work showing you how chemistry is all around us and how useful a better understanding of chemical principles can be!



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

P3499: Molecular Gastronomy: The Chemistry of Cooking in Splash! Spring 2014 (Apr. 12 - 13, 2014)
We’re surrounded by chemistry each and every day but some instances are more obvious than others. Most people recognize that their medicine is the product of chemistry; far fewer would say the same about their lunch. But they should. The flavor of their grilled chicken is the result of complex browning reactions, their salad dressing an emulsion of immiscible liquids, and the texture of their ice cream governed by thermodynamic principles. In this class, you’ll learn how to view food and cooking from the standpoint of a chemist and hopefully you come to see why chemistry is useful (and pretty cool!)


P3502: Magic Sand in Splash! Spring 2014 (Apr. 12 - 13, 2014)
Hydrophobic “magic” sand is special sand that has been coated with a silicon compound, making it able to repel water. Because the silicon is only one nanometer thick, hydrophobic sand looks and feels like regular sand. However, it behaves very differently.


P3094: Molecular Gastronomy: The Chemistry of Cooking in Splash! Fall 2013 (Nov. 02 - 03, 2013)
We’re surrounded by chemistry each and every day but some instances are more obvious than others. Most people recognize that their medicine is the product of chemistry; far fewer would say the same about their lunch. But they should. The flavor of their grilled chicken is the result of complex browning reactions, their salad dressing an emulsion of immiscible liquids, and the texture of their ice cream governed by thermodynamic principles. In this class, you’ll learn how to view food and cooking from the standpoint of a chemist and hopefully you come to see why chemistry is useful (and pretty cool!)