Professor Gerrans is primarily engaged in teaching and chemical education. He has taught undergraduate chemistry at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa and here at the University of Virginia.  He has held visiting professorships at the California Institute of Technology (1972), the University of Illinois (1979), the University of East Anglia, England (1986) and the University of Virginia (1990). Amongst the awards that he has received are the Convocation Distinguished Teacher’s Award (University of the Witwatersrand) and the Education Medal (South African Chemical Institute). He has published over 80 papers and is the co-author, together with P and R Hartmann-Petersen, of “Encyclopedia of Science and Technology,” (New Africa Books, 2007).

Most recently, Professor Gerrans was a faculty in the Spring 2009 UVA Semester at Sea Program.