Christy Bagwill, Ph.D.
Instructor; Coordinator for Organic Chemistry and Principles of Chemistry Laboratory Courses
Chemistry
Courses Taught
CHEM 1083 (lecture and lab), 1483 (lecture and lab), 2410, 2415, 2425, 2435, 2445
Education
B.S., Missouri S&T, 1994
M.S., Missouri S&T, 1996
Ph.D., Saint Louis University, 2017
Practice Areas
- Organic chemistry
- Chemical education
Research Interests
Anion-pi Interactions, Active Learning and Partial Flipped Classroom Pedagogies
Labs and Facilities
The two courses that are focused on in the Bagwill teaching lab are the general, organic and biochemistry course (Principles of Chemistry) for those students involved in the allied health fields, and organic chemistry for the sophomore students involved in biology and chemistry majors who are pre-med bound. In the Principles of Chemistry course, there is the continual drive to use the lab course to help students with difficult lecture concepts. Based on feedback from students and teaching assistants, the first semester is a two-week lab where it allows for the deep-dive into the material to help students better understand lab techniques and theory. In addition, because Principles of Chemistry does not use mechanisms as a way to explain reactions, the second semester focuses on using modeling kits and looking for patterns to help students better understand reactions in the organic chemistry portion of the theory.
SLU's organic chemistry labs are becoming more green. Green can mean that the chemicals are less harmful to the environment, to the users, or generate less waste. As more companies move towards greener alternatives to traditional manufacturing, there is a need to better educate our students on the benefits of green chemistry. For the chemistry and biochemistry majors, students design their own synthesis project and creating a poster presentation in organic chemistry. This provides the majors with a glimpse into research and provides them with more practice at communicating their research. The vision of the Bagwill teaching labs is to continually improve the quality of education provided to students by creating inventive new ways to approach difficult topics, providing further real-life applications of the materials covered in the lab, and using technology and instrumentation to give students an opportunity for hands-on experiences.
Honors and Awards
Leaders in the Workplace, YWCA, 2016