Kohnstamm Professor of Chemistry
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(608) 363-2249 FAX: (608) 363-2718 spencer@beloit.edu |
Educational and research experience
Ph.D., University of California - Berkeley, 1965
B.A., Carleton College, 1961
Visiting research appointments at:
University of Lund, Sweden
Cambridge University, England
University of Wisconsin - Madison
University of California - Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories - Richland, Washington
Uppsala University, Sweden
Case Western Reserve University - Cleveland, Ohio
Research Interests
Spectroscopic, crystallographic, and computational investigations of metal cluster and bioinorganic compounds.
Educational Interests
Innovations in teaching general chemistry. Inorganic and physical chemistry. Interdisciplinary environmental courses.
Principal investigator and Project Director for the ChemLinks Coalition, 1994-2002. A $2.8 million National Science Foundation Division of Undergraduate Education grant to promote "systemic change in chemistry education" for the 18-institution ChemLinks Coalition of liberal arts colleges and private research universities. ChemLinks, with the Modular Chemistry Consortium of public California institutions, produced, tested, and published a dozen ChemConnections topical modules for general chemistry, now published by W. W. Norton & Company. Co-Principal Investigator of the National Science Foundation's Multi-Initiative Dissemination Project, 2000-2004, to run regional and national workshops to disseminate the approaches and materials of all five of the chemistry "systemic change initiatives," helping to organize and participating in more than 25 workshops since 2000.
Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on "Innovations in the Teaching of College Chemistry," 1996.
Honors
Chemical Manufacturers Association Catalyst Award for excellence in undergraduate chemistry education
Beloit College Teacher of the Year
Phi Beta Kappa
Sigma Xi