Professional development in chemistry doctoral programs has traditionally relied on the skills and opportunities embedded within the requirements of the Ph.D. program being sufficient for employment. As a result, little emphasis is usually placed on career planning and exploration within the doctoral curriculum. Additionally, the support provided…

A simple, affordable hydrogen proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell laboratory was developed through a collaborative effort between faculty and undergraduate students at Brown University. It has been incorporated into the introductory chemistry curriculum and successfully implemented in a class of over 500 students per academic year for over 3…

An innovative, three-year seminar program was developed for undergraduates at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) that supplements the core chemistry curriculum by teaching the auxiliary skills necessary for life as a professional chemist. Advising, good laboratory practice, and information literacy are the strategic components of this program that…

This article describes the development and implementation of an open-access organic chemistry question bank for online tutorials and assessments at University College Cork and Dublin Institute of Technology. SOCOT (structure-based organic chemistry online tutorials) may be used to supplement traditional small-group tutorials, thereby allowing…

The construction of a simple volumetric adsorption apparatus is highlighted. The setup is inexpensive and provides a clear demonstration of gas phase adsorption concepts. The topic is suitable for undergraduate chemistry and chemical engineering students. Moreover, this unit can also provide quantitative data that can be used by young researchers…

The main areas of difficulty experienced by those teaching and learning organic chemistry at high school and introductory university level in Ireland have been identified, and the findings support previous studies in Ireland and globally. Using these findings and insights from chemistry education research (CER), the Organic Chemistry in Action!…

The ability to navigate and understand the chemical literature is integral to the scientific research process. Learning these skills is therefore an important, though often overwhelming, part of an undergraduate chemical education. We describe an inquiry-based program designed to help chemistry students begin to learn to search and read the…

Inspired by the Salters Approach (UK) and ChemCom (USA), units for a new curriculum for chemistry teaching are being developed in Germany based on theories of scientific literacy, motivation, and situated learning. The curriculum follows a context-based approach. Rather than using the structure of the discipline, it generates basic chemical…

The practical scenarios discussed in a chemistry or chemical engineering course that use solid or liquid reactants are presented. Important ideas to be considered when handling pressurized fluids are provided and three typical examples are described to enable students develop secondary skills such as the selective search of data, identification of…

The Preparing Future Faculty (PFF) program instituted at doctorate-granting institutions across the U.S. provides mentoring and guidance to doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers interested in academic careers. The seminar curriculum content focuses on exposing participants to skills and knowledge for successful pursuit of faculty careers…

A series of spreadsheet modeling exercises constructed as part of a new upper-level elective course on solid state materials and surface chemistry is described. The spreadsheet exercises are developed to provide students with the opportunity to interact with the conceptual framework where the role of the density of states and the Fermi-Dirac…

The growth and development, professional development, and recognition of this cooperative program are described. Highlighted is the program in the department of chemistry. Programs in other science departments are also discussed. (CW)

Presents data to evaluate the effectiveness of the Keller method relative to the traditional lecture/discussion section approach. The evaluation is in terms of the teaching of facts, principles, techniques and attitudes; student preparation for advanced chemistry; attraction of chemistry majors; program efficiency. (GS)

Recognizing that the vast majority of students will enter the chemical industry, an optional four-course sequence related to industrial chemistry was introduced. Program details are given along with information on how it was integrated into the curriculum of a small school with minimal staff size changes and limited facitlities. (JN)