On being a scientist, a feminist, and a mentor…

Some of my primary childhood passions were natural disasters, math, and cooking. I ran the baking soda and vinegar experiment over and over again, gleefully causing the “lava” to overflow down the sides of the volcano I had made in a pottery class. I even added red food coloring for a more realistic touch.

On behalf of IONiC (The Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists) and the Division of Inorganic Chemistry (DIC), I would like to invite you to participate in the eighth annual "Undergraduate Research at the Frontiers of Inorganic Chemistry" Symposium and Poster Session to be held at the Spring 2015 A

How would you define the field of inorganic?  More interestingly, how would your undergraduates define the field before their first course in inorganic?  I use a first day activity from VIPEr to ask just that question each year in my sophomore/junior level Inorganic I (no P-chem pre-req) course.  This is a much used and much modified activity (https://www.ionicviper.org/class-activity/introducing-inorganic-chemistry-first-day-activities,

Does VIPEr improve teaching? The evidence certainly suggests that it does. This summer I worked with an undergraduate student investigating the impact of IONiC/VIPEr faculty participation on professional practice. And while the data is not all in yet, the results certainly look good.

This fall is going to be different!  In addition to my regular General Chemistry course, I’ll be teaching a new course in my college’s recently redesigned first year seminar program--Food for Thought: The Chemistry of Cooking.  I’m both incredibly excited about this course, and pretty nervous.  I’m excited because it’s not too often (at least at a small college with the usual staffing challenges) that you are handed a blank page and told “teach (almost) anything you want!” I’ve wanted to teach a chemistry of cooking course for a long time, and luckily many others in the chemistry community

but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence - Vince Lombardi. As I reflect on this summer (good grief, I can't believe it is almost time for the fall semester to start) this quote by the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers seemed very appropriate. First, it reminds me that football season is just around the corner. More importantly it was a message I picked up several different times at BCCE. One of the topics that comes up fairly regularly in meetings of the Leadership Council is the activation barrier to posting on VIPEr.

The Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists did in fact have its start in a seedy airport hotel in Atlanta, just before the Spring 2006 ACS meeting. But that was not its original name—it was going to be the Intellectual Online Network… hang on.  Let me take a few steps back and get you all caught up.