Celebrating faculty: Rebecca Miller

What is the focus of your research/area of expertise?

Since my position is Senior Lecturer in the Chemistry Department, I do not have traditional lab based research projects.  My teaching is my research since I am always teaching multiple courses in the General Chemistry curriculum each semester.  I enjoy experimenting with new teaching strategies and activities to continuously enhance student learning in all of my courses.

How do students benefit from your scholarship and research?

My goal in teaching general chemistry is for the students to learn basic chemical principles and then apply those concepts to more advanced problems and applications. My class is a problem-solving class where students develop analytical skills which they will use in other courses and potentially in their careers. I recognize that many students in a general chemistry lecture are not going to pursue a major in chemistry or biochemistry, so my approach is for them to understand how fundamental chemical principles impact their daily lives.  Throughout my teaching career, I have worked very hard to teach general chemistry material in an effective, engaging and interactive manner. Each semester I try to incorporate a new assessment technique, technology or new topic to keep my lectures current and interesting to the students and to me.

What will you be teaching in the fall?

This fall, I am scheduled to teach CHEM 103 (General Chemistry w/ Recitation) which is a course that I developed and have been teaching since the fall of 2022 and 2 sections of CHEM 107 (General Chemistry I).