Inclusivity in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory

Date: November 1, 2021 1:00 pm (ET)

Speaker(s)

  • Vincent Ziffle
    First Nations University of Canada
  • Kelly Resmer
    Mount Saint Vincent University
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Vincent Ziffle

Vincent Ziffle 

Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge and Science into the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory

Biography: Dr. Vincent Ziffle is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv), in Regina, Saskatchewan. He has been teaching there since 2010. His research interests include Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Science, uses and chemistry of Medicinal Plants of the prairies of southern Saskatchewan, organic chemistry of plant secondary metabolites, and food chemistry. He works toward the elucidation of medicinal plant compounds, which have noteworthy medicinal properties, and their elaboration into important privileged structures. Dr. Ziffle has also developed CHEM 101: Chemistry of Food and Cooking, which incorporates food chemistry, plant medicine and Indigenous Food Traditions, and unique food labs where students learn from Traditional Knowledge Keepers about Indigenous Food pathways, sovereignty, and sustainability. He is a promoter of all things STEM and is a proponent of STEAM – capital “A” for arts, design, and Indigenous Culture – via Let’s Talk Science and FNUniv’s Indigenous Outreach team of student mentors and educators.

 

Kelly Resmer

Kelly Resmer

Incorporating UDL into the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory

Biography: Kelly Resmer is a chemistry lab instructor at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, NS. She teaches a variety of labs ranging from first-year general chemistry to third-year intermediary metabolism. Prior to working at MSVU, she was a post-doctoral fellow at Colorado State University, where she also completed a teaching fellowship through the American Society for Microbiology. She has a PhD and Certificate in University Teaching and Learning from Dalhousie University and a BSc from the University of Waterloo. Kelly is enthusiastic about making undergraduate chemistry labs more inclusive by incorporating Universal Design for Learning (UDL).