Brittany Busby serves as a Laboratory Coordinator at MSU. She is a co-coordinator for the Survey of Organic Chemistry lab and a co-coordinator for both semesters of general chemistry lab. These are large-scale courses that serve about 2000 students each semester. She is interested in developing labs that are more relevant to students’ lives and majors. Additionally, she hopes to continue improving the training for teaching assistants, providing them with the tools to be successful helping students. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Montana–Missoula under the guidance of Mark Cracolice and Chris Palmer, where her chemistry education research focused on graphing skill transfer between math and chemistry. During this time, she also had the opportunity to restructure a pre-nursing lab course, creating a data-to-concepts curriculum. She did her postdoctoral research at Auburn University with Jordan Harshman, evaluating the effectiveness of chemistry doctoral systems.

Research and Background

Justin Carmel (co-PI) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the STEM Transformation institute at Florida International University. He received his Ph.D. in Chemistry Education Research at Miami University. His research interests include developing assessment items to measure students ability to use scientific practices (analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and arguments), investigating how students’ identities as a scientist affects their success in their chemistry courses/major/degree program, and determining the relationship between laboratory curriculum and students’ identities as a scientist.

Contact

• Email: jcarmel@fiu.edu
• Chemistry Education at FIU:  http://chemed.fiu.edu
• Carmel Research Group: http://myweb.fiu.edu/jcarmel

Research and Background

Melanie Cooper (PI) is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry at MSU. She received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at University of Manchester. Her current research focus is the development and assessment of evidence-based curricula in order to improve the teaching and learning of chemistry within large-enrollment undergraduate chemistry courses.

Contact

• Email: mmc@chemistry.msu.edu
• Cooper Group Website: https://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/faculty/cooper/

Research and Background

Erin began working with the 3DL4US team as a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University, where she worked in the Chemistry Education Research Group led by  Prof. Melanie Cooper. She worked with the physics sub-group on the development of the 3D-LOP, developed and maintained the team website, and developed the web forum for the STEM Teaching and Learning Fellows. Aside from working with the 3DL4US team, her research focused on teaching and learning in the undergraduate chemistry lab. Erin is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education (SMATE) program at Western Washington University.

Erin earned her B.S. in chemistry with a minor in mathematics at Syracuse University (2012) and Ph.D. in physical chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2017), advised by Prof. Etienne Garand. Her doctoral work focused on the characterization of the structures and noncovalent interactions of isolated and solvated species in the electrocatalytic water oxidation cycle, via a technique known as cryogenic ion vibrational spectroscopy.

Contact

• Email: duffye@wwu.edu
• Website: https://wp.wwu.edu/duffy

Johanna Herman is an academic teaching specialist in the Department of chemistry at Michigan State University, overseeing and coordinating the General Chemistry Laboratory program. In her current position, she implements Cooperative Chemistry Laboratory curriculum—focusing on providing students opportunities to engage in common scientific practices while working as part of a team.

Before joining MSU, Johanna earned a Doctorate Degree of Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 2020 studying the photodegradation of singlet oxygen sensors using spectroscopic methods. While enrolled as a graduate student, she severed as a teaching assistant and preceptor to various General Chemistry laboratory programs, including an integrated general biology–chemistry program. Before then, she attended Delaware Valley University, earning dual Bachelor’s Degrees in Chemistry and Secondary Education.

Outside of work, Johanna has a passion for helping felines find their furrever home. She is currently fostering and volunteering with the Saved by Zade nonprofit organization in the greater Lansing area.

Research and Background

Deborah Herrington (PI) is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and the Integrated Science Program at Grand Valley State University. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry Education from Purdue University. Her research interests focus on improving the teaching and learning of chemistry from middle school through college. Active research projects include development and evaluation of effective professional development for grades 6-12 science teachers, examining student use of simulations and screencasts to construct understanding of core chemistry concepts outside the classroom, development of assessment items to measure students abilities to use science practices, and using text messaging to encourage student self-assessment and provide formative assessment data to guide instruction. She will coordinate the collection of data and facilitate the faculty cohort at GVSU.

Contact

• Email: herringd@gvsu.edu
• Website: www.gvsu.edu/targetinquiry

Research and Background

Lynmarie Posey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and CREATE for STEM Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Yale University. Her current research is centered around studying approaches to support students with low mathematical placements in successfully transitioning to general chemistry through a chemistry bridge course organized around core ideas and scientific practices. She has an ongoing collaboration with mathematics education researcher Kristen Bieda which has led to development of mathematics interventions for the chemistry bridge course; recently they have initiated a project to explore the nature of mathematical knowledge for teaching in the context of chemistry (MKT-C). She is also interested in the nature of social networks in cohort programs and how they may promote student success.

Contact

• Email: posey@chemistry.msu.edu

Alexandria Roach is currently working on her Ph.D. in Chemistry with a Chemical Education Track under the supervision of Dr. Sonia Underwood at Florida International University (FIU). Alex earned her BS in Chemistry with a specialization in biochemistry and minor in biology from Barry University. Her research interests include investigating faculty’s perceptions and undergraduate students’ understanding of chemistry core ideas.

Research and Background

Ryan Stowe began working with the 3DL4US team as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University. His work as a research associate mentored by Prof. Melanie Cooper focused on supporting molecular-level sense-making in high school chemistry students, and engaging undergraduates in scientific practices in the context of organic chemistry. Ryan is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ryan earned his B.A. in chemistry at Albion College (2010) and Ph.D. in organic chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute (2016). His doctoral studies, conducted under the guidance of Prof. William Roush, focused on the design and synthesis of histone deacetylase inhibitors and the development of methods useful in natural products synthesis.

Contact

• Email: rstowe@chem.wisc.edu
• Website: https://stowe.chem.wisc.edu

Research and Background

Ryan Sweeder is an professor for Chemistry in Lyman Briggs College and director of the Lyman Briggs’ NSF SPRING Scholars program. He received his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry and Chemistry Education at University of Michigan. He and his research group explore gender inequity in science education, strategies to retain students in the sciences, and the impact of curricular interventions on student learning. His current research projects include examining student use of simulations and screencasts to construct understanding of core chemistry concepts outside the classroom, using text messaging to encourage student self-assessment and provide formative assessment data to guide instruction, and assessing the success of a Lyman Briggs program designed to support students with low incoming mathematics skills.

Contact

• Email: sweeder@msu.edu
• Website: http://sweeder.msu.domains/

Research and Background

Sonia Underwood (PI) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the STEM Transformation institute at Florida International University. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry with a focus on Chemistry Education Research at Clemson University. Her research interests are developing assessment measures to determine impact of curriculum transformations, investigating the ways in which students use a chemical structure to predict a compound’s macroscopic properties, and exploring the connections students make between their chemistry, biology, and physics content knowledge.

Contact

• Email: sunderwo@fiu.edu
• Chemistry Education at FIU:  http://chemed.fiu.edu
• Underwood Research Group: http://myweb.fiu.edu/sunderwo

Mengqi (Veronica) Zhang is an organic chemistry laboratory coordinator in Chemistry Department. She received her bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and Business Management from Nankai University, China. She then earned a PhD in Chemistry at the University of Georgia with specialization in chemical education. Her research interest focuses on curriculum development, instructional laboratory experiment design, green chemistry, and microwave chemistry

Research and Background

As a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry at Michigan State University, Kinsey Bain led the 3DL4US team for two years and engaged in research on three-dimensional learning and instruction, especially as it relates to faculty adoption and implementation. Kinsey is currently a Presidential Management Fellow in Washington, D.C.

She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry at Purdue University. Her research interests broadly centered around undergraduate student success, especially in contexts like upper-level undergraduate chemistry courses. Much of her work focused on student understanding of physical chemistry topics, such as energy in chemical reactions and processes or mathematics in chemical kinetics.

Contact

• Email: kbain@chemistry.msu.edu

Elizabeth Day is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cooper Chemistry Education Research group who collaborates with the 3DL4US team. She earned a PhD in chemistry at the University of Georgia with a specialization in chemical education. Her primary project is curriculum development and assessment for a non-majors’, project-based green organic chemistry laboratory curriculum.

Research and Background

Becky Matz is an Academic Specialist in the Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology, and an adjunct instructor in the Department of Chemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of Michigan. Her primary research interest is undergraduate STEM education reform, including exploring organizational change, characterizing assessments with respect to scientific practices and core disciplinary ideas, analytics on large, cross-institutional data sets of course grades, assessment of quantitative literacy in lower-division math courses, and creating assessments for student understanding of core chemistry ideas in introductory cell and molecular biology.

Contact

• Email: matz@msu.edu

Zahilyn Roche Allred is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the STEM Transformation Institute at Florida International University (FIU). Zahilyn received her Ph.D. in Chemistry with a specialization in Chemistry Education Research from Miami University in Oxford, OH. Her current work focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluations of activities that prompt students to use their understanding of chemistry core ideas to explain biological phenomena.