About the Author

» I teach chemistry at Athens Drive High School in Raleigh, NC. I obtained a B.S. in Chemistry from Penn State and worked in IBM development labs after graduation. When my children were young I realized that I wanted to teach and I obtained my certification through the NCTeach program. I have spent the past 9 years sharing my love of chemistry and science in general with high school students. The lessons presented here are those that I developed specifically for my Kenan project, but I am more than happy to share any materials that I have. Please feel free to contact me at lbhibler@wcpss.net with questions, concerns or ideas.

About the Mentor

« David F. Ollis, who joined the College of Engineering faculty in 1981, has been the catalyst for many innovative engineering courses during his tenure at NC State. The Freshman Engineering Laboratory that he developed has provided engineering students with an introduction to "hands-on" involvement with engineering products and processes. The "take apart" and "experiment" laboratory gave students the opportunity to work in teams to learn about technical operation and engineering design of products and processes by operating and disassembling everyday items like photocopiers, CD players and video cameras and experimenting with water purification processes and optical fiber data transmission. This early laboratory opportunity has been extended to collaborative offerings with the NC State colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences, Design, and Education, and to a recent course on Technological Literacy, informally known as "How Stuff Works." At the graduate level, first-year doctoral students in chemical engineering take his research proposition course and learn to master writing and communication in the research process. Reflecting his interest in French, he launched a study-abroad summer program in technical French.