(Invited) Making Electrochemical Research Accessible to an Undergraduate Audience

In principle, undergraduate students are introduced to electrochemical reactions within the first year of the chemistry program.  In practice, the amount of content covered in the second semester of general chemistry is oftentimes limited to oxidation numbers and possibly balancing redox reactions.  Coverage of electrochemical concepts in higher level classes seems to be largely dependent on how comfortable the instructor is with the material.  While increased exposure to the topic within the formal curriculum is certainly encouraged, training in electrochemistry is perhaps better served by a more informal undergraduate research learning environment.  Presented here is one approach towards establishing a rigorous research program designed to train and teach undergraduate students utilizing principles derived from Bloom's taxonomy of learning.  Development of a successful electrochemical research program has involved several factors, including: identifying projects that are accessible to undergraduate students given their limited exposure to the topic; developing tools and resources to facilitate training and learning; establishing forums for formal and informal scientific communication opportunities; and creating partnerships and collaborations that not only appreciate the challenges of undergraduate research, but leverage them in order to add meaningful value to the research program.  Strategies for implementing direct and indirect methods to assess scholarly and instructional outcomes will also be presented.