Ceci Vollbrecht

Experimental Observation and Modeling of Potential Oscillations on Iron Electrodes A comprehensive laboratory exercise is described whereby students measure oscillations in electric potential between iron and carbon electrodes immersed in an acidic solution of hydrogen peroxide. The...

My first paper as a faculty member! Was a lot of fun working w/Tom Kuntzleman, Dean Campbell, & James Hurst on a new oscillating rxn for students to use in lab. You can see, hear, & measure the oscillations, which my students loved! Let me know if you need a PDF copy!
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

I need to go back and try this again….

Thanks!

Thanks! My proposal was in part inspired by how often people in the group used to say they wish they knew at least a little bit of computer programming coming into grad school!

That Computes: Faculty Member's Fellowship to Benefit Students Cecilia Vollbrecht is one of just 10 faculty members from around the country to earn a fellowship that will help students learn new skills.

Thrilled to have receive this fellowship to help add new skills to the chemistry curriculum that will help my students become better scientists! And thanks to the college for highlighting it! www.kzoo.edu/news/faculty...

The thoughts and the clarification are great! Because I did stare at the first image trying to figure out which beet matched which orbital...

I gotta say I find a lot of AI discourse around higher ed very confusing. "if ChatGPT can write your essays is college even worth it?" did people think math teachers were assigning problem sets because *they* couldn't figure out the answers?

I am happy and tired after an awesome week of learning with the MolSSI Act-CMS group. And I regret nothing 🤣

Lesson learned from the MolSSI ACT-CMS workshop: If @cvollbrecht.bsky.social invites you to the hotel lobby for an evening 'work' session after dinner, don't bother bringing your laptop and be ready to be up past your bedtime

Two possible reasons for this are:

1.) Women, POC and/or disabled people are more likely to do equity oriented work

2.) Women, POC and/or disabled people have been marked as DEI regardless of what they do

The government will try to point to the former reason when it is in reality the latter

📣🧪
$25k grants for those who:

1. are working on research on STEM and education (including AI and CS, graduate education and MSIs, and scholarship that aims to reduce inequality), and

2. have had a recently terminated or cancelled grant from NSF.

Early-career scholars prioritized

A lot is wrong in the world, but a student told me they look forward to office hours every week and I'm holding that close for the day.

This is a new image from #JWST.

The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.

Everything else is a galaxy.

Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.

It's really ok to say "I am not well-informed enough about this news item that people are discussing to feel like my opinion will contribute meaningfully to the discussion, and therefore I will choose to say nothing."

Undergraduate Biology Students’ Climate Change Communication Experiences Indicate a Need for Discipline-Based Education Research on Science Communication Education about Culturally Controversial Scien... Science communication is a key skill for undergraduates, but little research explores how biology students communicate about societally important, yet controversial topics like climate change. In this...

Students often talk with friends & fam about climate, @lizbarnes.bsky.social + colleagues find. But they tend to go heavy on the stats & facts, and don't know how to bring up solutions. They rarely learn how to have effective conversations, and would love training & practice.

Well, guess what! 🧵

Five glowing stones are stacked in a cairn orientation on a rocky beach with water and a sunset in the distance. They rocks are of various colors: the glowing ones are blueish, but with a yellow-orange glow.

If you visit the Upper Peninsula of Michigan & go to the shores of Lake Superior at night, be sure to bring a long-wave UV light source so you can hunt for fluorescent Yooper Stones.

"Yooper" here is a play on 'U.P.' (Upper Peninsula), but they're rocks that contain a fluorescent mineral, sodalite.

Bhalla Lab - Research Specialist (Junior Specialist) University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!

Hi all, I'm hiring a junior specialist/research technician for my lab at UCSC. An ideal applicant would be an undergraduate who would like more research experience before applying for grad school but all are welcome to apply 🧪
recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01882

I shared this with my quantum chemistry class the other week and they loved it! Thanks for providing a cool visualization and intro to class discussion

Thanks for the updates! Don’t have insider so appreciate it. Hoping she is able to get moving and everything is ok!

Anyone heard about Emily Ford? Feel like she’s been in the same spot for a while after a really strong start…

For any REI members who may not realize there is a Board election, or that it is contentious, see this. I ended up supporting one and not supporting the other two. do your research, make your call and VOTE.

Does anyone have a running list of universities that have paused or slashed graduate admissions?

We’ll add it to ours if it doesn’t exist

Hey folks--
If you're a recent (or soon-to-be) analytical chem PhD, or if you know of one...

We're hiring a 1-year VAP as sabbatical replacement. We don't do a national search for 1-year positions; it's completely word of mouth. DM me if you want details.

#ChemSky

Extremely disappointed to see HHMI decide to kill their Inclusive Excellence program, including terminating the current IE3 awards to over a hundred institutions effective this year in the middle of a 6-year grant. I was hoping HHMI (and other private funders) would continue to lead the way.

Way too much going on in the world. So here’s a #funnyfriday from our dept hallway where we put up a new chemistry joke each week. And yes there is a backstory to the crepe paper horse

Another day of checking the news post-coffee and wanting to scream.

I used to work for an elected official as the person who answered their emails. I can tell you from personal experience, if even twenty or thirty people all call an official in a day, they start panicking. This stuff does help.