Hannah Starr

Hannah Starr
Ph.D. Candidate (summer 2022)
UNC-Chapel Hill
Host: Professor Michelle Driessen

Abstract

General Chemistry Teaching Candidate

A pH buffer solution is an aqueous solution that contains a weak acid and its conjugate base (or weak base and its conjugate acid). When small amounts of acid or base are added, the pH of the solution changes very little. Buffer solutions provide a way to keep pH nearly constant in a wide variety of experimental and natural environments. For example, buffer solutions are often used to control pH when studying chemical reactions involving enzymes. In nature, the bicarbonate buffering system is particularly important, especially in the ocean. In this 20 minute mock lecture, Hannah will teach how to calculate the pH of a buffer solution after the addition of strong acid and/or base. 

Following the mock lecture, Hannah will turn to a discussion focussed on her vision for how she might address observations of grade disparities between groups holding a variety of marginalized identities. Data demonstrating these disparities are consistent in introductory STEM courses at many institutions around the country, including the University of Minnesota and including general chemistry. Similar grade disparities are also found in subsequent courses. Hannah will describe her vision of how to close gaps observed, with a particular focus on the large lecture modality (i.e., 200-350 students). 

Hannah Starr

Hannah Starr is a 5th year graduate  student in Mike Gagne’s lab at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her research is focused on Lewis acidic borane catalysts on silsesquioxanes and silica for C-O bond reduction. She also attended UNC as an undergraduate, and she worked with Jillian Dempsey on PbS quantum dots. In her time at UNC, she has been a teaching assistant for the organic lab and the upper-level inorganic synthesis lab. She was also instructor of record for general chemistry II and introductory inorganic chemistry (she really loves to teach point groups). She has served on a number of committees in the Chemistry Department including the Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the Undergraduate Studies Committee, and the Strategic Planning Committee. When she’s not in lab or teaching, Hannah loves to bake new desserts to share with her lab mates.