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NDSU Professor Receives NSF CAREER Award for Green Chemistry Education Project

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Alexey Leontyev, an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at North Dakota State University (NDSU), has been awarded a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award of $868,229 to advance green chemistry education. The project aims to design, develop, and validate a community-authored assessment tool for Green Chemistry Education (GCE) that focuses on teaching chemistry with an emphasis on protecting the environment. Leontyev's research seeks to bring proven assessment techniques from Chemistry Education Research into the Green Chemistry Education field and support a collaboration between these two areas. The project will develop and test high-quality tools to assess organic chemistry students' understanding of important green chemistry concepts, which has been lacking in education.

Key Takeaways:

  • The project aims to design, develop, and validate a community-authored assessment tool for Green Chemistry Education (GCE).
  • The tool will focus on teaching chemistry with an emphasis on protecting the environment.
  • Leontyev's research seeks to bring proven assessment techniques from Chemistry Education Research into the Green Chemistry Education field.
  • The project will benefit the state of North Dakota by linking chemistry concepts to biomass utilization, a key part of the state's agricultural economy.
  • The research is supported by NSF award No. 2442826.
  • The project will create a new kind of test that doesn't just mark answers right or wrong but also reveals partial understanding, using artificial intelligence to analyze student answers and assist in designing new questions.
  • Leontyev will work with experts to create a diagnostic tool that uses a scoring system to track students' progress.

Statistics:

  • $868,229: The amount of the NSF CAREER Award received by Alexey Leontyev.
  • 20 years: The amount of time it has taken for the adoption of green chemistry education curricula to increase in higher education.
  • 2: The number of experts who will serve on the advisory board for Leontyev's program, including Jane Wissinger, University of Minnesota Professor Emerita.
  • 2442826: The NSF award number for Leontyev's research project.

Sources:

  • North Dakota State University (NDSU)
  • U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • American Chemical Society (ACS)
  • Jane Wissinger, University of Minnesota Professor Emerita

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