Carolyn Nichol

Faculty Fellow in Chemistry

Dr. Carolyn Nichol is a Faculty Fellow in Chemistry and the Director of the School Science and Technology (SST) Program in the Wiess School of Natural Science at Rice University. SST provides teacher professional development to elementary and secondary teachers in science content and pedagogy, while also providing STEM outreach to the Houston Community. SST programs include the Rice Excellence in Secondary Science Teaching and the Rice Elementary Model Science Lab.  Dr. Nichol’s research interests are in science education and science policy. She received her B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, her doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, and served as a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Pharmacy at UT Austin. Prior to joining Rice University, she worked at Boehringer Ingelheim on innovative drug delivery systems and she was an Assistant Professor in Diagnostic Radiology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she conducted research on nonviral gene therapy systems. At Rice University she has developed and taught courses in The Department of Bioengineering including Numerical Methods, Pharmaceutical Engineering, Systems Physiology, Biomaterials and Advances in BioNanotechnology.

Publications

Diaconu, D., Radigan, J., Suskavcevic M., Nichol, C. A. A Multi-Year Study of the Impact of the Rice Model Professional Development on Elementary Teachers.  International Journal of Science Education, 33 2011: 1-23

Cloonan, C. A., Andrews, J. A., Nichol, C. A., Hutchinson, J. S. A Simple System for Observing Dynamic Equilibrium via an Inquiry Based Laboratory or Demonstration.  J. Chem. Ed., 88 2011: 975-978

Bagaria, H., Dean, M., Nichol, C. A., Wong, M. Self-assembly and nanotechnology: real-time, hands-on, and safe experiments for K-12 students.  J. Chem. Ed., 88 2011: 609-614

Cloonan, C. A., Nichol, C. A., Hutchinson, J. S. Understanding Chemical Reaction Kinetics and Dquilibrium with Building Blocks.  J. Chem. Ed., 88 2011: 1400-1403

Nichol, C. A., Hutchinson, J. S. Professional Development for Teachers in Nanotechnology Using Distance Learning Technologies.  J. Nano. Ed., 2 2010: 37-47