Leonard Vuocolo
Associate Teaching Professor, Chemistry
- Doherty Hall 2114
- 412-268-7033
Education
2000 Ph.D. in Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon UniversityProjects
Areas of Specialty
Effective Use of Technology/Software at the introductory level; contextual approaches to general chemistry; implementation of green chemistry and bioinorganic chemistry in the undergraduate curriculum; interdisciplinary experiments between chemistry and engineering; interdisciplinary courses between chemistry and non-science and non-engineering programs, peer learning techniques, advising effective recitation instruction, academic and career advising.
Educational Interests
My lecture courses focus on a “concepts first, numbers next” approach to learning. I integrate activities and software that encourage students to apply concepts to new and/or practical situations and to derive new concepts from those they currently know. In the Professional Communication Skills (PCSC) course, students learn about faculty research in the department and communicating professionally both on their own and from their peers, enforcing the notion of learning information through communicating/teaching it in various formats. Further implementation of peer learning techniques will be in the Introduction to Experimental Chemistry course where some parts of experiments will involve small groups deriving procedures to reach a goal and class pooling of data for interpretation of results. In the safety seminar students not only learn about current waste procedures and safe laboratory practices, but they also get to inspect a laboratory on campus and report whether these practices are currently enforced. The Junior and Senior seminar enforce the literature experiences from PCSC and the safety training from the sophomore seminar through providing feedback on seniors’ research or literature presentations.
Appointments
Years | Position |
---|---|
2009–present | Assistant Teaching Professor of Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University |
2005–2009 | Special Lecturer in Chemistry, Carnegie Mellon University |
2000–2005 | Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Allegheny College |
Awards and Distinctions
Years | Award |
---|---|
October 2007 and 2009 | Co-recipient of the Carnegie Mellon Panhellenic Role Model Award. |
June 1999 | Co-recipient of the 1999 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (In recognition of contributions made to the development of Professor Terrence Collins’ “TAML™ Catalytic Oxidant Activators: General Activation of Hydrogen Peroxide for Green Oxidation Technologies”) |
April 1999 | Carnegie Mellon University Graduate Student Teaching Award |
April 1998 | Mellon College of Science Graduate Student Teaching Award |
April 1995 | Department of Chemistry Graduate Student Teaching Award |
Teaching Interests
Course number | Course title |
---|---|
09-101 | Introduction to Experimental Chemistry |
09-103 | Atoms, Molecules and Chemical Change |
09-106 | Modern Chemistry II |
09-105 | Introduction to Modern Chemistry I |
09-204 | Professional Communication Skills in Chemistry (formerly Issues in Chemistry) |
09-202 | Undergraduate Seminar II: Safety and Environmental Issues for Chemists |
09-302 | Undergraduate Seminar IV |
09-402 | Undergraduate Seminar VI |
09-445 | Undergraduate Research |