Renee Cole

Renee Cole

Project PI and Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Iowa

Dr. Cole earned a B.A. in chemistry from Hendrix College, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physical chemistry from the University of Oklahoma. Her research focuses on issues related to how students learn chemistry and how that guides the design of instructional materials and teaching strategies as well on efforts related to faculty development and the connection between chemistry education research and the practice of teaching. She is actively involved in the POGIL (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) project at a national and international level, serving on the steering committee and conducting workshops and seminars around the United States and in Australia. Dr. Cole is also an associate editor for the Journal of Chemical Education.


Juliette Lantz

Juliette Lantz

Project PI and Professor of Chemistry at Drew University

Dr. Lantz earned a B.S., Honors in chemistry from Loyola University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Her research focuses on the development, implementation and assessment of active learning strategies in analytical chemistry, particularly in the areas of cases studies, role-playing laboratories and POGIL. Juliette Lantz was the PI on the NSF-funded project that recently produced POGIL material for analytical chemistry: Analytical Chemistry: A Guided Inquiry Approach - Quantitative Analysis Collection, and Analytical Chemistry: A Guided Inquiry Approach - Instrumental Analysis Collection. She is an active participant in the POGIL (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) project, and a member of the POGIL steering committee.

Suzanne Ruder

Suzanne Ruder

Project PI and Associate Professor of Chemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University

Dr. Ruder earned a B.A. in chemistry from the College of St. Benedict and a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry from Washington State University. She completed a postdoctoral research position at Brown University in the area of organic synthetic methods. Her research interests are in the area of developing and assessing active learning strategies and student process skills (soft skills) in the large classroom. She has been active in the POGIL (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) project for over 10 years, using POGIL in large organic chemistry classes, facilitating faculty workshops across the United States and in Australia, and serving on the project steering committee. Dr. Ruder has authored two books, "Clickers in Action: Increasing Student Participation in Organic Chemistry" and "Organic Chemistry, A Guided Inquiry."


Gil Reynders

Gil Reynders

Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Iowa

Gil is currently a graduate student in the chemistry department at the University of Iowa in Renee Cole's research group. He is responsible for developing the rubrics for evaluating student written work and for analyzing the data collected by our collaborators to determine the validity, reliability, and utility of our rubrics. Gil earned a B.A. in chemistry from Lake Forest College and M.S. in chemistry from the University of Rochester.

Courtney Stanford

Courtney Stanford

Postdoctoral Fellow at Virginia Commonwealth University

Dr. Courtney Stanford earned a B.S. in chemistry from the Rochester Institute of Technology, an M.S. in organic chemistry from the University of Connecticut and a Ph.D. degree in chemistry education from the University of Iowa. In addition to focusing on the assessment of process skills, Courtney has conducted research on the influences of instructor facilitation on student argumentation and the propagation of STEM educational innovations.

Project Collaboration Team

Project Collaboration Team

  • Chris Bauer, Professor of Chemistry
    University of New Hampshire
  • Teresa Bixby, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
    Lewis University
  • Patrick Brown, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences
    East Tennessee State University
  • Caryl Fish, Associate Professor of Chemistry
    Saint Vincent College
  • Jill Guerra, Professor of Math
    University of Arkansas Fort Smith
  • Stanley Lo, Assistant Teaching Professor of Biological Sciences
    University of California, San Diego
  • Chris Mayfield, Assistant Professor of Computer Science
    James Madison University
  • Eunice Yang, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology
    University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown