Environmental Research Literacy

Lindsey A. Welch is Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences at Cedar Crest College. She teaches upper-level undergraduate courses in inorganic and physical chemistry as well as introductory chemistry, technical writing, and environmental science. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Lycoming College and a Ph.D. in physical-inorganic chemistry at Lehigh University. She has held an active role in the AmericanChemical Society by serving on the executive boards of both the Environmental Chemistry and Catalysis Science & Technology technical divisions and various leadership roles in the Lehigh Valley Local Section. She also actively participates in the Catalysis Society of Metropolitan New York. Her service extends to GammaSigma Epsilon, where she has served as secretary on the executive committee and advises the Rho Xi chapter. She received the ACS Petroleum Research Fund Undergraduate New Investigator Award in 2016 and continues to mentor undergraduateresearch in areas of liquid phase catalysis and green chemistry. Michael Berger studied chemistry at Cornell (BA) and Harvard Universities (PhD) and at Brandeis University, where he conducted photochemical research as a postdoctoral fellow. Joining the corporate world, first at Itek Corporation, then at Polaroid Corporation, he was awarded seven patents on photography, photochemistry, and polymeric coatings. Later as a consultant to an environmental engineering firm, he authored twenty-eight Environmental regulatory reports that involvedfield work, environmental risk assessments, and a working knowledge of Massachusetts and EPA environmental regulations. He has authored twenty-two peer-reviewed articles in the fields of environmental chemistry, photochemistry, kinetics, and post-secondary pedagogy. Presently, Berger is Professor of Chemistry at SimmonsUniversity, engaging students in sustainability and the environment while teaching analytical chemistry, quantum chemistry, environmentalscience, climate change, and sustainability. Elizabeth Roberts-Kirchhoff received a B.S. in Chemistry from Texas A & M University and a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan. After postdoctoral research at Wayne State University and The University of Michigan, she joined the faculty at the University of Detroit Mercy in 1997. Presently, Roberts-Kirchhoff serves as Assistant Dean of Academics and Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry in the College of Engineering & Science at theUniversity of Detroit Mercy. She has taught courses in biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, and environmental toxicology to science majors and general, organic and biochemistry to allied health majors. Roberts-Kirchhoff continues to develop and implement innovative and evidenced-based teaching pedagogies in the classroom and laboratory.Mark Benvenuto received his education at the Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia (BS and PhD, respectively), and did apost-doctoral fellowship at the Pennsylvania State University. He also served a four-year term of service between his undergraduate and graduate education as a lieutenant in the United States Army, spent mostly in Mannheim, West Germany. He joined the University of Detroit Mercy as a faculty member in inorganic chemistry in 1993 and was the department chair from 2001 to 2019. Benvenuto has taught freshman-level chemistry to science and engineering students virtually every semester since he hasbeen at the University of Detroit Mercy, and has been voted the UDM Science Teacher of the Year, by the students, five times. He was also awarded the Michigan College Science Teacher of the Year in 2003 by the Michigan Science Teachers Association. He has been active in local and national ACSactivities for two decades and is a Class of 2015 ACS Fellow.