Community of chemistry education researchers advancing knowledge generation and utilization to address grand challenges in chemistry education.

Address grand challenges in chemistry education by building the capacity of chemistry education researchers at all levels, fostering connection between research and practice, and broadening the domain through intentional dialogue with other scholarly communities.

The committee is composed of a chair, co-chair, a secretary, and 9 additional members. The committee sustains several sub-committees, some containing non-members (referred to as the ‘friends of CERC’). Members serve 3-year terms and can serve for up to two consecutive terms. The chair and co-chair provide recommendations to the Committee on Personnel and Nominations for new and replacement positions as they become available annually.

• Symposium Coordination & Program Committee Liaison (2 members) - Liz & Brandon
• Secretary (1 member) -  Precursor to Chair-elect
• CER listserv moderation (1 members) - Ryan (Until CERC listserv moved to another committee)
• Research in Chemistry Education symposium (varies) – Organize abstracts submitted to the call into themed sub-sessions and re-categorize abstracts that do not fit the expectations for Chemistry Education Research. Subcommittee members and/or friends preside over the sessions during the conference. Symposia will be organized for BCCE and spring ACS meetings. Organizers of this symposium coordinate with organizers for the Research-Practice Partnerships sessions with regard to overall planning and overlap of symposia.
  • New & Noteworthy (2 members and 2 friends) – Critical observation this year, possible rebranding
  • Research to Practice (2 members and 2 friends)
  • Research in Chem Ed (2 members and 2 friends)
• New directions and planning (3 members) – Review the current responsibilities of the CER committee in light of their impact on the field and their workload for the committee and its friends. Additionally, this subcommittee will help to generate and implement new initiatives for the committee. Program committee liaison (unofficial) (1 friend, who is a Program Committee member) – This role serves to provide insight to the CER committee regarding their initiatives and upcoming changes. Assigning people to attend ExComm public meeting, Board of Publication, and Strategic Planning Oversight to report back at least yearly? Report back meeting with chairs, what do we want to learn from this meeting? Create template for their brief summary.
• Networking (ECCES sponsorship) & Mentoring coffee hour for CERC members (2 members) – organize monthly virtual meetings of CERC members to discuss topics related to mentoring. These may include use of resources developed by organizations such as the Center for Improvement of Mentored Experience in Research, or discussion of mentoring challenges that emerge from community experiences.
• Centering justice and equity in chemistry education – a multidisciplinary symposium (2 members) – Solicit linked talks from scholars in chemistry education and related fields (e.g., science education, sociology, STS) that explore how justice and equity might be fostered using chemistry knowledge and practices (broadly defined). Symposia would be distributed between a chemistry meeting (e.g., ACS, BCCE) and a meeting relevant to scholars from the other fields represented (e.g., AERA, NARST).
  • Semi-annual themed symposium (BCCE). Volunteers from CER who pick a co-organizer from outside. Psychometrics, discourse analysis, qual, etc. Set up as hybrid invitation/submission. Also open to folks who don’t volunteer. Themes picked at CERC meeting and/or poll of the membership (via social media). At CERC meeting, populate ideas for a poll (to select a theme). Consider requesting funds from DivCHED (especially for folks from other disciplines). 

First quarter (January-March): Distribute an agenda for spring meeting to all committee members. Submit a committee report for review at the Division Executive Committee meeting and, if appropriate, items to the Division chair for inclusion on the spring Executive Committee agenda. Hold an OPEN committee meeting during the spring National meeting (currently in the Monday lunch-time slot). If appropriate, a committee representative presents the committee items submitted for inclusion in the spring Executive Committee agenda. The chair/co-chair review committee responsibilities and member assignments to sub-committees and adjust as needed, assigning new members to various roles.

Second quarter (April-June): The committee secretary distributes the spring meeting minutes and action items of the spring meeting to committee members for review and comments, minutes are approved virtually. Additionally, the secretary will update the ‘friends of CERC’ email contact list for new attendees and/or updated contacts. During BCCE years, request a meeting room and distribute the agenda and schedule for the committee meeting to committee members.

Third quarter (July-September): During BCCE years, hold an OPEN meeting during the conference (ideally on Sunday before sessions begin at 2pm). Submit a committee report for review at the Division Executive Committee meeting. Submit the budget request for the following calendar year to the Division treasurer. The committee secretary distributes the fall virtual meeting agenda to committee members. The committee secretary distributes the BCCE meeting minutes and action items of the BCCE meeting to committee members for review and comments, minutes are approved virtually. Additionally, the secretary will update the ‘friends of CERC’ email contact list for new attendees and/or updated contacts

Fourth quarter (October-December): Host CLOSED virtual meeting via ZOOM platform. During virtual meeting, the committee will consider if any adjustments to their procedures document (this document) as included in the Operations Manual should be made. If any procedures have been updated, those updates are to be forwarded to the Member at Large and Division secretary by early December. The committee secretary distributes the virtual meeting minutes and action items of the virtual meeting to committee members for review and comments, minutes are approved virtually. The chair sends thank-you letters to all committee members who have completed their terms of office. If the chair (or secretary) is completing his/her/their term of office, the files are prepared to be transferred to the incoming chair (or secretary) by January 1. The committee chair begins the draft of the committee annual report.