Dr. Suzanne Lunsford is professor at Wright State University and is an electrochemist and an internationally established chemical educator. She has been working with colleagues from international universities on how to integrate interdisciplinary science labs to meet the needs of the 21st century. Her research work for over two decades has been developing novel sensor electrodes (modified electrochemically) to detect common neurotransmitters to detecting common heavy metals Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and toxic metal Indium at low concentrations utilizing electrochemistry techniques such as cyclic voltammetry, square wave anodic stripping voltammetry, and differential pulse voltammetry. The electrochemical techniques and modified electrodes are examined further by such techniques as Scanning Electron Microscopy, Atomic Force Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Raman Spectroscopy to confirm the electrode surface interactions and stability analysis of the sensor(s) developed to assist our students with a variety of analytical instrumentation techniques. She has received over 1 million dollars in external funding for her international and local educational inquiry-based science research programs at Wright State University.
Our professional development workshops have provided participating teachers with inter-disciplinary inquiry-based learning experiences in earth and environmental science that have built their content into real-world problem based research initiatives. Our educators that participate in these professional development workshops build content on water quality and how to test water quality to determine the impact on their own community. These workshops make a connection with industry and build upon the need for our uses of water, minerals, metals and fuels and how these essential concepts in chemical engineering are vital to understand to become literate scientist to meet the needs of the industrial workforce. The Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers are not on the participants’ radar and these inter-disciplinary inquiry-based labs and field experiences assist the participants with a better understanding of the environmental science/geoscience careers that are available as well. Our professional development workshops are focused on educating the underrepresented and underserved populations to assist with their future STEM opportunity careers in industry. The scientific and engineering practices of: Developing and Using Models, Inquiring Questions, Planning Investigations, Inquiring and Interpreting Data, Utilizing Computational /Mathematical Thinking, Constructing Explanations, Engaging in Debate from Evidence and Gaining Data, Assessing and Distributing Information are all the skills carried out during our professional development workshop. The content gains in the professional development workshops were assessed by R.R. Hake’ method which have shown enhanced content gains with the inter-disciplinary inquiry-based technique as expected with this style of professional development program.
