The learning environment described here uses Web-based videoconferencing technology to merge the traditional classroom journal article discussion with student-led interviews of journal article authors. Papers that describe recent applications of a given technique are selected, with the author engagement occurring at the end of a three or four week module covering the technique and its applications. Students prepare for the author engagements by reading the paper, discussing it as a class with the instructor, and developing a set of consensus questions to provide a framework for their conversation. Authors do not make formal presentations to the students, but instead answer questions. The smaller class sizes of upper-division undergraduate courses provide an intimate setting for these student-led conversations. Author engagements are designed to improve critical thinking skills in the content areas studied, improve interactive scientific communication skills, build scientific self-confidence in young scientists, and expose students to established scientist role models. The student-author interactions described here provide a cost-effective mechanism to expose students to diverse areas of chemistry and to bring expert scientists into the classroom. In situations where videoconferencing is not available or permitted, teleconferences provide a reasonable substitution.