Scholarly Activities

The faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Physics are active scholars. We regularly attend and present at scientific meetings or events. Some of our activities have included:

  • ChemEd Conference, Radford, VA
  • Advanced Forensics Science Workshop, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
  • North Carolina Academy of Science Annual Meeting,, Asheville, NC
  • NC American Chemical Society Sectional Conference, RTP, NC
  • NSF Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning Workshop, Guilford College, Greensboro, NC
  • Tristar Astronomy Conference, Greensboro, NC
  • Science “Magic Shows” at local elementary schools.

The faculty pursue undergraduate student-focused research as well. Recent research activities include:

  • Organic synthesis: “Synthesis of Pine Beetle Pheromones”
  • Alternative fuel research: “Converting Saw Dust to Fuel-Grade Ethanol”
  • Nanoparticles: “Reactions of Organic Amines with Platinum “Janus” Nanoparticles”
  • Lead analysis: “Lead Uptake in Arabidopsis thaliana”
  • “Lead Analysis in Drinking Water. A Service Learning Project with a Local School System”
  • “Procedure Development for Determining Lead Content in Paint Samples from Harnett County Schools”
  • “Lead Analysis in Children’s Toys by Flame AA”
  • Green Chemistry: “New Organic Laboratory Experiments to Minimize Waste and Exposure”
  • Education: “Use of NMR as a Teaching Tool for Organic Synthesis in Undergraduate Laboratories”
  • “Development of ‘Student-Made’ Spectrophotometers as Learning Tools”