Jill K. Robinson

Background:

• Graduate Fellowship, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (1999)
• Lecturer in Analytical and General Chemistry, University of Wyoming, 1999-2002
• Atmospheric Chemistry Fellowship, National Science Foundation (1998)
• Excellence in Teaching from the University of Wyoming College of Arts and Sciences (2000)
• Student Choice Teaching Award, University of Wyoming Honors College (2000)
• Board of Trustees Teaching Award, Indiana University, (2003)
• Southern Indiana Section of the American Chemical Society National Chemistry Week Chair (2003)

As a teaching faculty member at IU, I have been actively involved in creating a new and modern chemistry curriculum that best meets the changing needs and interests of our science students. One aspect of the curriculum reform project was to implement a 1:2:1 sequence in the freshmen/sophomore level courses. This sequence consists of one semester of General Chemistry, two semesters of Organic Chemistry, and one semester of Intermediate Inorganic Chemistry. One advantage of this sequence is that students are introduced to life science related to concepts earlier, thus allowing them to draw connections between chemistry and biology courses. Another advantage is that a fast track to upper level classes is created, thus enabling student to focus on their personal areas of interest. Another aspect of the curriculum reform is to create more advanced lab and lecture electives for students, such as the Bioanalytical course that I recently developed.

In addition to teaching in the areas of General, Analytical and Environmental Chemistry, I am involved in a number of professional activities. I regularly attend and present at national conferences in the area of chemical education. I have been selected to be a fellow in the Freshmen Learning Project at IU, which focuses on improving teaching and learning in large classes. I am also involved in outreach activities for both teachers and students, such as the National Chemistry Week Event on the IU campus and the educator workshop "Science Standards in a Snap: A Summer Institute for Teachers." In addition, I serve as the faculty advisor for the professional chemistry fraternity Alpha Chi Sigma.

Selected Publications:

"Less is More" 1:2:1 Curriculum at Indiana University
On-line conference, The International Center for First Year Undergraduate Chemistry Education, Jan. 2007
http://www.ched-ccce.org/confchem/2007/a/index.html#Papers

C117: Principles of Chemistry and Biochemistry I Laboratory Manual, 3rd. ed. Reck, C.; Robinson, J.; Wietstock, S., Hayden-McNeil, 2004.

C103/C121: Chemistry Laboratory Manual, 2nd Ed. , Robinson, J., Nance, M.; Hayden-McNeil, 2004.

J.K. Robinson, M.J. Bollinger, J.W. Birks, "Luminol/H2O2 Chemiluminescence Detector for the Analysis of Nitric Oxide in Exhaled Breath," Analytical Chemistry, 1999, 71 , 5131-5136.

M.J. Bollinger, J.W. Birks, J.K. Robinson, "Nitric Oxide Gas Detector," U.S. Patent 247/191 (1998).