justachemblog.net was conceived to encourage undergraduate chemistry majors to write about chemistry (and science) outside the traditional term paper and lab report formats. The primary goals are to:

• improve students’ technical writing skills;
• promote participation by using student centered content and comments;
• encourage students to identify and summarize key concepts and important ideas concisely;
• develop research and technical skills including the use of the primary scientific literature, and discipline specific software and databases;
• encourage students to apply their chemistry (and science) knowledge outside the classroom;
• help students identify different audiences and adapt their writing appropriately;
• promote peer collaboration and review.

Contributors:
Scott Kassel is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Villanova University. He received his PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Florida in 1998, a MS in Inorganic Chemistry from Illinois State University in 1994, and a BA in Chemistry from the University of Illinois in 1992. When he isn’t in the classroom, he tries to concentrate on research; his interests include asymmetric catalysis and chemical crystallography. His research group is currently designing new catalysts for the allylic oxidation of olefins and the selective hydrolysis of phosphate esters. email: scott.kassel@villanova.edu (protected against spambots – remove the capital letters before sending)

Nicole Harmuth is a senior Chemistry major who is also pursuing an Italian minor at Villanova University. Her original involvement with this blog was as a classroom project in Scott Kassel’s Inorganic Chemistry class in the fall of 2008. She continues to work on the blog as she sees it as an excellent opportunity to keep up with what is going on in the science world, as a way to apply and extend textbook knowledge to real-world situations, and to develop her writing skills for a diverse audience. Her current research with Dr.Amanda Grannas is studying the characterization of dissolved organic matter in Greenland ice cores using ultra-high resolution FTICR-MS. Nicole also currently serves as the Science Senator for the Student Government Association and is involved in various other activities on campus. After Villanova, she would like to attend grad-school to study food science and nutrition and/or analytical chemistry. email: nicole.harmuth@villanova.edu

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