Committee News

DIVCHED Virtual Conference for Graduate Students and Postdocs in Chemical Education Research The DivCHED Virtual Conference for Graduate Students and Postdocs in Chemical Education Research (July 28–30) was a great success, offering sessions on careers, publishing, mentoring, and more. Led by Michelle Herridge and supported by ECCES and G2S1, the event brought together researchers nationwide for learning and networking. Stay tuned for next year’s event!

Apply Now! Virtual CER Grad Student and Postdoc Professional Development Conference (July 28–30) Apply now for a free, virtual professional development conference for graduate students and postdocs in chemistry education research, happening July 28–30, 2025. Sessions cover career paths, publishing, job materials, and mentoring. Application deadline: June 16.

ECCES Committee Hosts Lunch For Early Career Scholars at Spring 2025 ACS Meeting This initiative was made possible through a successful Strategic Project Fund application from the Division of Chemical Education (DivCHED). As part of our committee’s ongoing commitment to fostering connection and professional development among early career scholars, we organized targeted activities at the ACS meeting designed to build community, facilitate networking, and support those navigating the early stages of their academic careers

The Early Career Chemistry Education Scholars (ECCES) committee The Early Career Chemistry Education Scholars (ECCES) committee is dedicated to the recruitment and networking of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early faculty members in chemistry education research.

A New Venue for Younger Chemistry Education Scholars to Turn for Advice By Kimberly Linenberger

Networking by Megan Grunert When I was first approached about doing a blog post on networking, I laughed a little inside. I have always struggled with networking, knowing that it is a valuable skill yet feeling entirely incompetent. What I offer here are my thoughts on what I’ve done well, what I’ve done poorly, and what I’ve learned along the way. I won’t reiterate the value of networking, because I think we all know it is a necessary skill that has the potential to provide tremendous career opportunities (but I’m happy to field questions about this and anything else you see here!).

10 Tips for a Successful Academic Job Search by Dr. LaKeisha McClary I have been fortunate to complete within one calendar year an academic job search and sit on the other side to hire a new colleague. Mentors prepared me well for my successful academic job, but I know that not everyone is fortunate to have advisers and friends in the academy keep it real. So, I was excited to be asked to write a blog post on job searches. Since my only interest was in academic positions, I will limit myself within those boundaries. I present 10 tips for a successful academic job search.

Using Chemistry Education Research in a Teaching-Centered Position by Seth Anthony I'm going to start out with an odd statement for a blog aimed towards a community of chemistry education researchers: I've never loved research. Liked it, sure. But it’s never gotten me up in the morning excited to go to work. Teaching is what gets me up in the morning, and even before I started graduate school in CER, I wanted to pursue a position centered around teaching, not research. But during my first year-and-a-half as a faculty member at a teaching-oriented, primarily undergraduate institution, I’ve found that my training in CER impacts much more of my job than I expected.

If you build it, will they come? Reflections on working with undergraduate researchers by Nathaniel Grove It has now been a little over three years since I accepted my current position at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. It was a time filled with great excitement, and concurrently, great stress and anxiety. One of my recurring nightmares involved research: sure, I had all of these big ideas – and perhaps even a notion or two about how to pursue them – but would anyone actually be interested in working with me to help execute those plans? Three years later, it has been gratifying to see many of my fears allayed, but the build up of my research group certainly wasn’t something that happened overnight, and in the process, I have come to rely heavily on the involvement of undergraduate researchers. Although many of us are passionate about undergraduate education and are equally keen to involve undergraduate students in our research, it has been my experience that as a group, undergraduates have very different research needs and goals than their graduate student counterparts. What I offer below are some reflections on my experiences working with undergraduate research students.

The life of a chemistry education research (CER) graduate student What does a graduate program in CER look like and how do you find one? by Allie Brandriet, Miami University, OH This blog is based on a presentation that I gave in the What is Chemistry Education Research (CER)? symposium at the 2013 spring ACS National Meeting. The purpose of this symposium was to offer an introduction to the field of CER for those who may not be familiar with the discipline. My hope for this blog is that it can be used as a tool for students interested in pursuing graduate level degrees in CER. Please pass it along to students who may be interested!

Navigating the Two-Body Problem by Marilyne Stains, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Two years ago, my husband and I started our tenure-track assistant professor positions in chemistry at the same institution. Although it may seem impossible to many of you, (it sure seemed impossible to us at times), the two-body problem is solvable!

CER in Teacher Prep Positions by Michelle Dean, Kennesaw State University I am now three years into a position as an Assistant Professor of Chemical Education and taking on teaching, research and service activities I absolutely love and three years ago would have never imagined I would be doing. Upon completing my undergraduate degree I changed my career trajectory from secondary education in chemistry to that of a chemical education university faculty member. This change was not initiated by a horrible student teaching experience, but rather simply learning that such a profession existed. I graduated with my undergraduate degree from an institution where if chemical education research was taking place it did not readily involve student researchers or shared with students, and therefore I was clueless about this alternative career path which blended two things I had a passion for: chemistry and education.

The YCES blog requests your feedback! by Jessica Reed, Iowa State University Hello Younger Chemistry Education Scholars! Welcome back to a new school year and a new adventure. I hope you had a productive summer, and are thinking ahead to what goals you want to accomplish this school year. With that in mind, I wanted to get your feedback about the YCES’ Blog.

Informal Chemistry Education By Brittany Christian, Miami University, OH I have always enjoyed learning random facts and tidbits of knowledge for the simple sake of learning. Hence, it should come as no surprise that one of my favorite places to visit growing up was the museum where knowledge was literally pasted on the walls. The best part of visiting museums was the independence I had to explore any display I wished without the dread of taking a quiz at the end! This unstructured environment gave me a satisfying sense of freedom to learn my way and at my pace.

Chemical Education Research and Education Technology Industry by Erik Epp, Chemistry Product Manager at WebAssign As someone who has taken an unusual route from a chemical education degree, I have been asked to share some of my experiences in the education technology industry. I’ll start with the disclaimer that what follows is qualitative in nature and has N=1.

What’s Behind Door Number Two? Other Chemistry Education Research Career Options- Part 1 By: Stephanie Ryan, Ph.D., Science Test Development Specialist, American Institutes for Research A common misconception that many graduate students (and others) have is that there is a single career path after the completion of a doctorate degree. We are all familiar with the traditional route in academia.

A long and winding road by Stephanie Philipp, Miami University, Oxford, OH A common thread I have seen in recent blog posts is that career trajectories are as varied as the people who live them and mine is no exception. My story is a bit different from others that have been shared, in that my journey from chemistry major to chemistry education researcher has taken more time with quite a few stops along the way. If you are just starting a career, know that it is entirely possible that what you envision for your vocation may be far different from what you eventually choose or feel called to do, and that a career is not like a projectile moving in a smooth parabolic path, but maybe more like a naturally winding stream!

“So, what are you going to do after you graduate?” by Mary Beth Anzovino The dreaded question for so many graduate students (perhaps second only to “so when are you going to graduate?”). Even if you have a sense of where you ultimately want to end up, career-wise, there is still a lot of uncertainty until you actually secure that position.

So you want to be more involved in the ChemEd community…now what? by Thomas Bussey, University of California, San Diego ChemEd can sometime be an isolating and uphill battle. For those of us in a science department, many of our colleagues/other students, however supportive, may not really understand what it is that we do. For those of us fortunate enough to have ChemEd colleagues/group members, we may find that the diversity of our field leads us to very different research agendas while the demands of teaching/coursework take up a significant portion of our time.

Why I chose an instructor position after graduation by Daniel Cruz-Ramírez de Arellano, Ph.D. A little over a year ago I graduated from a doctoral program in chemistry education research. It was a long road filled with challenges and triumphs. Of course, it is easy to generically call them “challenges and triumphs” when one is looking back on an already completed goal; but when one is living it, going through the daily trials, the process might seem more arduous than what was anticipated. In order to keep my motivation up, I found it extremely helpful to keep my eye on the prize, to constantly remind myself why I had decided to embark on the journey through graduate school. In my case, I wanted to be a college professor.