Research Interests
I have several research interests. If you are interested in any of these, please feel free to come discuss them with me over some tea. I usually take 1-2 students at a time (I don't feel like I have time to do justice for more than that) and I can discuss what background you need to have for the projects.
- Chemical Education: Since coming to APSU I have become interested in a field of research called Chemical Education. This is doing pedagogical work on ways students learn chemistry. In particular, I am interested in methods of bringing chemistry to non-chemistry populations, ways to reinforce organic chemistry concepts into a biochemistry curriculum, and integrating a strong ethics curriculum into the undergraduate chemsitry experience.
- Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: Related to my background in toxicology and medicinal chemistry, studying chemicals in the environment that can alter the normal hormone balance in the body is very interesting to me. In recent years I have been looking at isolating compounds in lavender oil that are likely estrogenic.
- Medicinal Chemistry: Medicinal chemistry involves the synthesis of new compounds aimed at treating/curing diseases. My graduate history involved synthesizing non-conventional therapeutics for breast cancer using some methods in the field of chemical biology. I would like to get back into the field of synthesis when I get an interested student!
- Quality control: A new interest of mine is in the quality control aspect of elecronic cigarettes. There is very little mandated quality control of these products, and it's interesting to see how much quality control there is in these products.