Browsing by Author "Richmond, Geraldine"
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Item Open Access Addressing Gender Equity in the Physical Sciences: Replications of a Workshop Designed to Change the Views of Department Chairs(Begell House, 2011-02) Greene, Jessica; Lewis, Priscilla; Richmond, Geraldine; Stockard, JeanThis research note presents data on the replication of a carefully planned intervention to increase the commitment of department chairs in the physical sciences to the hiring and career advancement of women. Three separate workshops for department leaders in chemistry, physics, and material science were held. Participants’ views regarding factors that affect attracting women candidates, the hiring of women faculty, and barriers to women’s career progress changed significantly from before attending the workshop to after attending. When differences occurred between the disciplines, changes were most apparent for chemistry department chairs. Reasons presented for these differences included variations in the representation of women in the field and elements included in the chemistry workshop that involved greater public acknowledgment of needs for change.Item Open Access Changing the Chairs: Impact of Workshop Activities in Assisting Chemistry Department Chairs in Achieving Racial and Ethnic Diversity(American Chemical Society, 2011-04-13) Greene, Jessica; Lewis, Priscilla A.; Richmond, Geraldine; Stockard, JeanTo address the low levels of underrepresented minority (URM) faculty in top-ranked chemistry departments, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Institutes of Health jointly sponsored a workshop for academic chemistry leaders in September 2007. The goal of the two-and-a-half-day workshop was to create an informed and committed community of chemistry leaders who will develop and promote programs and strategies to advance racial and ethnic equity in both the faculty and student body with the goal of increasing the number of U.S. citizens who are URM scientists. This paper reports the impact of this workshop on the attitudes of the department chair faculty members who attended the workshop. On the basis of surveys of the department chair faculty perceptions before and after the workshop, the results indicate that participants in the carefully planned intervention workshop changed their attitudes regarding reasons underlying the underrepresentation and barriers that minority faculty face in the field. These department chair faculty members also increasingly viewed the solution to diversifying chemistry departments as one in which they, their departments, and universities could play a role.Item Open Access The Chemistry Graduate Student Experience: Findings from an ACS Survey(American Chemical Society, 2021-10-28) Stockard, Jean; Noviski, Maya; Rohlfing, Celeste M.; Richmond, Geraldine; Lewis, PriscillaGraduate training is a key element in producing a scientific workforce that reflects the nation’s diversity. This paper examines data from a 2013 American Chemical Society (ACS) survey of 2,544 chemistry masters and doctoral students and reveals barriers to reaching this goal. Multivariate statistical analyses indicate that women reported significantly less supportive relationships with advisors. Women were less likely to plan to finish their degrees, and for PhD students, the discrepancy was larger for students at the start of their graduate program. Women were also less likely to pursue the next level of training, and the gender difference related to postdoctoral plans was greater for those who identified with a racial−ethnic group traditionally underrepresented in chemistry (underrepresented minority, URM). URM students who were beyond the first year of their graduate program reported significantly less supportive relationships with peers. They were also less likely to have funding sufficient to meet their needs and more often used personal resources including loans. Despite these difficulties, URM students were more likely to definitely plan to finish their degrees, and men who identified as URM were more likely to plan to pursue postdoctoral work. Independent of gender and identification as URMs, students in more highly ranked schools reported less advisor support. Extensive open-ended comments indicated that large proportions of the students desired more attention and meaningful feedback from advisors and changes within their programs to promote support for students and advisor accountability. Suggestions for future research are given, and a companion commentary discusses needed directions for change.Item Open Access COACh Career Development Workshops for Science and Engineering Faculty: Views of the Career Impact on Women Chemists and Chemical Engineers(American Chemical Society, 2010-03-09) Greene, Jessica; Stockard, Jean; Priscilla, Lewis; Richmond, GeraldineFor the field of chemistry to play a leading role in the science and technology sector of the U.S. economy it must recruit and retain the best and brightest talent from all segments of our society. Currently in the United States there is a significant disparity in the recruitment and retention of women relative to their male counterparts, particularly at advanced-degree levels. For the past eight years the Committee on the Advancement of Women Chemists (COACh) has been offering professional development workshops on negotiation and communication skills for women faculty in the chemical sciences. The workshops are a combination of professional-skills training, experiential learning, role-playing, and group problem solving. To date, over 400 women chemistry faculty have attended these workshops held prior to national professional meetings for chemists. This article examines the participants’ perceptions of the impact of the workshops on their careers. The results show that the overwhelming majority of the women report that the skills learned at the COACh workshops have enhanced their career progress in important and long-lasting ways.Item Open Access Equity for women and underrepresented minorities in STEM: Graduate experiences and career plans in chemistry(PNAS, 2020-11-20) Stockard, Jean; Rohlfing, Celeste M.; Richmond, GeraldineRecent events prompted scientists in the United States and throughout the world to consider how systematic racism affects the scientific enterprise. This paper provides evidence of inequities related to race–ethnicity and gender in graduate school experiences and career plans of PhD students in the top 100 ranked departments in one science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) discipline, chemistry. Mixed-model regression analyses were used to examine factors that might moderate these differences. The results show that graduate students who identified as a member of a racial/ethnic group traditionally underrepresented in chemistry (underrepresented minorities, URM) were significantly less likely than other students to report that their financial support was sufficient to meet their needs. They were also less likely to report having supportive relationships with peers and postdocs. Women, and especially URM women, were significantly less likely to report supportive relationships with advisors. Despite their more negative experiences in graduate school, students who identified as URM expressed greater commitment to finishing their degree and staying in the field. When there was at least one faculty member within their departments who also identified as URM they were also more likely than other students to aspire to a university professorship with an emphasis on research. Men were significantly more likely than women to express strong commitment to finishing the PhD and remaining in chemistry, but this difference was stronger in top-ranked departments. Men were also more likely than women to aspire to a professorship with an emphasis on research, and this difference remained when individual and departmental-level variables were controlled.Item Open Access Experimental and Computational Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectroscopy Studies of Atmospheric Organics and Their Surface-Active Hydration and Oligomer Products at the Air-Water Interface(University of Oregon, 2020-02-27) Gordon, Brittany; Richmond, GeraldineOrganics at aerosol interfaces greatly affect aerosol properties in turn affecting the climate. However, many aspects about the formation and atmospheric processing of aerosols, in particular secondary organic aerosol (SOA), remain poorly understood. The traditional mechanism of SOA formation does not adequately predict experimental observations in the atmosphere. It is increasingly being recognized that aqueous phase processing of atmospheric organics is another important pathway to SOA formation. A better picture of the surface behavior of these organics and their reaction products will aid in further understanding the role these organics play in the formation potential of aqueous secondary organic aerosol. The work within details studies on the adsorption, orientation, and hydration state of select atmospheric carbonyls (glyoxal, hydroxyacetone, methylglyoxal, and pyruvic acid) and their aqueous reaction products at the air-water interface. Data are gathered using a combination of experimental and theoretical techniques, including vibrational sum frequency (VSF) spectroscopy, surface tensiometry measurements, classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.Item Open Access Is the Academic Climate Chilly? The Views of Women Academic Chemists(American Chemical Society, 2010-03-09) Stockard, Jean; Greene, Jessica; Lewis, Priscilla; Richmond, GeraldineThe statistical picture of the gender composition of chemistry as reported in national data indicates that women are underrepresented in academe in comparison to their representation in the field as a whole. This article presents data on the perceptions and views of a broad cross-section of women in academic chemistry departments and provides some clues as to why this underrepresentation may occur. In general, the data support literature that has posited a work climate that is problematic and less than welcoming for women. The results indicate that a large proportion of the women surveyed report that they receive little professional support through mentoring, that they perceive that there are strong differences in the resources and privileges awarded to men and women faculty, and that gender-related issues affect their department’s ability to recruit and hire or to promote women’s career progress after they are hired. Finally, the chemistry women in this study were significantly less likely than those in a national sample of academics to report being satisfied with their jobs and were significantly less likely than those in the national sample to agree that women and minorities are treated fairly.Item Open Access Is the Gender Climate in Chemistry Still Chilly? Changes in the Last Decade and the Long-Term Impact of COACh-Sponsored Workshops(American Chemical Society, 2018-07-20) Greene, Jessica; Richmond, Geraldine; Lewis, Priscilla; Stockard, JeanThe representation of women among recipients of chemistry Ph.D. degrees has increased in recent years, but their representation among the faculty in academic departments is still below what would be expected given the proportion of degrees received. Articles published in the Journal of Chemical Education in 2010 documented a hostile gender-related climate in academic chemistry and the way in which COACh had helped women deal with this hostile environment. This paper replicates and extends the 2010 analyses. Findings from surveys of over 400 women indicate that the negative gender-related climate within chemistry changed very little from 2006 to 2016. Women who had participated in COACh continued to report that they often used skills learned in COACh workshops and that these skills helped them in their careers. Discussion of the findings emphasizes the extent to which commitment and actions by administrators and the profession as a whole are needed to promote the full inclusion of women within the field.Item Open Access Mixtures of Polyelectrolytes and Surfactants at the Oil/Water Interface(University of Oregon, 2019-09-18) Schabes, Brandon; Richmond, GeraldineLife itself would not exist without chemical modification of aqueous surfaces. As humanity explores and designs ever-more-complex interfacial systems, multicomponent polymer/surfactant (P/S) mixtures could increase the functionality of designed interfaces. Many applications involve an oil phase, but understanding of P/S assembly at oil/water interfaces is lacking. Most conventional techniques are unfeasible or impossible at buried interfaces. This dissertation uses a non-invasive and interface specific technique – vibrational sum frequency (VSF) spectroscopy – to study the fundamental forces that control coadsorbing P/S systems. Because the VSF response is nonlinear, the net orientation of the participating dipoles can be determined from the phase relationships of the resultant data. VSF spectroscopy is powerful, but not all-knowing; many corroborating techniques are used to construct a holistic model of P/S behavior. The first three chapters of this dissertation introduce the system of interest and the techniques by which it will be explored. Chapter III introduces the benefits of selective deuteration, and the information contained within VSF spectra is explained and demonstrated for a simple surfactant interface. Chapter IV looks critically at previous literature conclusions regarding a model P/S system. The oil/water adsorption is compared with what is known previously about adsorption at the air/water interface. Ultimately, it is found that similar electrostatic effects lead to ordered adsorption at both interfaces, but two conclusions from air/water are not replicated: the formation of multilayers and the persistence of polymer adsorption in the presence of micelles. A more robust interfacial pictures is constructed, which demonstrates the wealth of information obtained from vibrational spectroscopies. Chapter V explores a carboxylate-containing polyelectrolyte which has been used previously to model environmental humic acid molecules. The low charge-density causes hydrophobic forces to play a much larger role in P/S coadsorption. The adsorbed polymer’s interfacial structure depends strongly on polymer concentration. At first, only hydrophobic P/S interactions cause modest coadsorption, but once a threshold polymer concentration is surpassed, specific electrostatic interactions uncoil adsorbed polyelectrolyte. Electrostatic effects are identified as the foremost contributor to the system’s enhanced surface activity. This dissertation includes both published and unpublished co-authored materials.Item Open Access Molecular Structure and Bonding at Nanoemulsion Surfaces(University of Oregon, 2020-09-24) Carpenter, Andrew; Richmond, GeraldineThe formation of nanoemulsions, nanosized oil droplets in water, has provided scientists with unique hydrophobic chemical environments capable of being leveraged for a diverse set of applications ranging from the petroleum to pharmaceutical industries. In order to stabilize nanoemulsions, the droplet surface must be stabilized. While empirical rules have been established for the kinds of chemicals able to be used for nanoemulsion stabilization, there is a lack of knowledge of the molecular details of the interface that contribute to droplet stability. This lack of knowledge is no more present than in the study of bare nanoemulsions, absent emulsifiers, where a significant negative charge of unknown origin accumulates at the droplet surface and provides the necessary stabilizing electrostatic force. The studies detailed in this dissertation take advantage of vibrational sum-frequency scattering spectroscopy (VSFSS) to study the surfaces of nanoemulsion droplets and build up a molecularly specific picture of the droplet interface. Beginning with the creation of bare low charge nanoemulsions, an explanation for the accumulation of negative charge at bare nanoemulsion surfaces is developed that can be generalized to the charge accumulation observed at nearly all aqueous-hydrophobic surfaces. Further studies of bare nanoemulsion surfaces focus on the structure and bonding of the aqueous and hydrophobic phases, with the first direct measurements of interfacial water at the bare nanoemulsion surface being reported. These measurements have found that the chemical bonding interactions between oil and water molecules at the nanoemulsion surface is different from that of the extended planar oil-water interface. It is also found that all surfactants studied induce a structural reorganization of interfacial oil molecules. Other studies, reported here, focus on the assembly of surfactants to nano- oil and water droplet surfaces. Surfactant alkyl chains assemble in a similar manner at the bare oil and water droplet surfaces, but in a different manner compared to the planar oil-water interface. However, despite differences in the alkyl chain assembly, further work investigating headgroup solvation and charge screening phenomena finds that these phenomena occur in similar fashions at the curved and planar oil-water interfaces. This work contains published and unpublished co-authored material.Item Open Access Policies and Practices to Improve the Chemistry Graduate Student Experience: Implications of the ACS Survey of Graduate Students(American Chemical Society, 2021-10-29) Rohlfing, Celeste M.; Richmond, Geraldine; Noviski, Maya; Lewis, Priscilla; Stockard, JeanSTEM graduate education is vitally important in producing the talent needed to fuel our economy and provide solutions for the challenges we face in emerging diseases and climate change. Yet recent research indicates that women and students who identify as members of minority groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM face extraordinary challenges in their graduate careers. This commentary describes ways in which chemistry graduate education could become more supportive and inclusive through changes by graduate students, faculty, departments, funding agencies, and professional organizations. As a result the scientific workforce could utilize the full range of available talent and become more productive.Item Open Access Promoting Gender Equity in Academic Departments: A Study of Department Heads in Top-ranked Chemistry Departments(Begell House, 2008) Stockard, Jean; Greene, Jessica; Lewis, Priscilla; Richmond, GeraldineAlthough the doctoral degrees in chemistry that have gone to women has increased markedly over the past few decades, the representation of women among higher education faculty has not increased at the same rate. This paper reports the results of a systematic effort to change this pattern by increasing the commitment of department heads in leading departments to the hiring and support of women faculty. Results indicate that participants in a carefully planned intervention changed their attitudes regarding reasons underlying women’s underrepresentation and barriers to their progress in the field from pre- to postworkshop. Participants also reported commitment to change immediately after the event and engaging in a number of specific change efforts in the following months. While the quality of these change efforts was not related to changes in attitudes, those with fewer women in their department were more likely to report more fully on change efforts.Item Open Access Promoting Mentoring Among and For Women in Chemistry: The Experiences of COACh(American Chemical Society, 2010-06-20) Stockard, Jean; Greene, Jessica; Lewis, Priscilla; Richmond, GeraldineA growing body of research documents numerous factors that contribute to women's under-representation in the top tiers of technical and scientific fields. This literature describes the ways in which biases against women, particularly those that are more subtle and implicit, can translate into lower salaries, slower rates of promotion, and less recognition through honors and awards for women relative to their male colleagues (Committee on Science, 2007; Greene, et al, 2010b; Valian, 1999). In 1999 a small group of senior women chemistry faculty from around the United States began meeting to discuss their concerns that women in their field were not experiencing the same career opportunities and advancement patterns as men. With seed funding from the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, they formed an organization called COACh, the Committee for the Advancement of Women Chemists. Over the last decade COACh has sponsored numerous career-oriented workshops for women chemists as well as workshops for department heads. One aspect of this work is encouraging mentorship relationships for and by women, an area recognized by the COACh founders as important for career advancement. This paper uses data gathered by COACh to examine women chemists' mentorship experiences and then discusses ways that COACh has promoted mentoring and the apparent results of these efforts. We end with a brief discussion of future research that needs to be done in this area and lessons for policy and action.Item Open Access Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectroscopy Investigations of Mixed Surfactant Systems at the Oil - Water Interface(University of Oregon, 2020-02-27) Ciszewski, Regina; Richmond, GeraldineThe boundary between two immiscible liquids is known to play host to numerous chemical reactions and interactions despite making up a relatively small fraction of the overall system as a whole. Surfactants, the primary classification of the compounds studied herein, are known to preferentially order at an oil-water interface and lower the surface tension between the two fluids. A thorough understanding of surfactant behavior is necessary in order to make the most efficient use of their properties in applications as wide reaching as enhanced drug delivery, waste water treatment, oil spill recovery and oil remediation to name a few. In this dissertation, vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy, a surface selective vibrational non-linear optical technique, is used to measure selected surfactant vibrational modes in order to obtain a fundamental understanding of surfactant and co-surfactant behavior and interaction at the often difficult to probe buried oil-water interface. Additional surface tensiometry measurements help to shed light on these complex interfacial behaviors and work to aid in the subsequent VSFS analysis. Interfacial studies specifically designed to identify and characterize the cationic head group behavior of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) are presented first. The identification of the head group modes was aided through the use of selectively deuterated CTAB surfactants. The behavior of the CTAB head group was found to be concentration dependent and can act in future studies as a valuable proxy for determining the relative interfacial environment experienced by the surfactant head group. The knowledge acquired from the head groups of CTAB coupled with the alkyl tail behavior now serve as the baseline system and deviations measured due to the presence of an additional surfactant introduced to the system can be properly evaluated. CTAB mixed with 1-hexanol serves as our model mixed cationic/nonionic system and displays unusual surface synergy. Hexanol is shown to be surface active but disordered at the interface when alone in solution. When CTAB is introduced to the system a reorientation of both surfactants is observed even as hexanol helps to promote additional co-adsorption of CTAB to the interface. This dissertation includes both published and unpublished co-authored materials.Item Open Access Water Combination Bands and Mixed Systems at the Oil/Water Interface(University of Oregon, 2021-09-13) Altman, Rebecca; Richmond, GeraldineSurface chemistry is fundamental to life. The interface between oil and water is a unique environment home to vital chemical phenomena, from reactions occurring at our cell membranes to the functionality of industrial products we consume. Understanding the behavior of molecules at the surface between oil and water is necessary for building upon fundamental aspects of this ubiquitous surface; however, detailed investigations of the molecular level of the oil/water surface are limited due to experimental challenges of probing a buried interface. Vibrational sum frequency (VSF) spectroscopy is non- invasive surface specific nonlinear spectroscopic technique that can probe the population and orientation of molecular vibrations at interfaces. The work presented in these studies utilizes VSF and surface tensiometry methods to investigate two main areas of surface chemistry at the oil/water surface: 1) the presence and implications of weak VSF signal from combination bands of surface water molecules, and 2) intermolecular interactions between charged and nonionic surface adsorbates in polymer-surfactant and co-surfactant mixed systems. These studies find the spectral presence of both the stretch + libration and bend + libration combination modes of interfacial water molecules are very sensitive to surface charge, as is expected from surface water vibrational responses. Due to the broad nature of these modes, their presence in the surface water spectrum can have significant effects on the VSF analysis of C-H and C-D vibrational modes from surface adsorbates as their alkyl vibrational modes interfere with the signal from water combination bands. Studies investigating the surface structure of mixed systems containing nonionic polymer and charged surfactants reveal minimal interfacial interactions between charged surfactants with surface-active nonionic polymers; however, surface-inactive nonionic polymers, such as polyacrylamide, are synergistically drawn to the surface through charge-dipole interactions with charged surfactants. Studies investigating co-surfactant mixtures of nonionic Span-80 with anionic surfactants indicate competitive adsorption between the two surfactant species, as Span-80’s attraction to the oil phase is stronger than any intermolecular interactions occurring between Span-80 and the anionic surfactants. This dissertation includes both published and unpublished co-authored material.