April N. French

Education:
University of Tulsa, B.S., 2002;
University of Kansas, Ph.D., 2007

Biography:

April French received her Bachelors in Science in Chemistry, with a minor in Communication from the University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 2002. She received her PhD. in Chemical Education from the University of Kansas in 2007. Her dissertation work was on informal science education occuring within science museums. She worked as a Assistant Professor in Chemistry at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana, for four years. There she taught General, Organic, Biochemistry for Nursing students, it's laboratory, Organic Chemistry Laboratory, and Physical Sciences, among other courses, both in-person and online.

At the University of Kentucky, she is the General Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator. In this role, she oversees approximately 55 sections of students, 25 teaching assistants each semester, over two courses. During her time here at UK, she oversaw the move of the General Chemistry Labs from the basement of the Chemistry-Physics Building to the new Jacobs Science Building. 

She also coordinates ChemCamp, is involved in Science Olympiad, and is the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education (BCCE) 2024 Workshop and Safety Chair.

 

Research Interests:
General Chemistry Labs
Informal learning
Informal Science Education
chemical education
ChemCamp

 ChemCamp is a summer camp aimed at rising high school students to provide them with laboratory experiences and to build their enthusiasm toward chemistry and UK.

Selected Publications:

Testa, S., Selegue, J., French, A., Criswell, B. (2018). Permanganate Oxidation of DNA Nucleotides: An Introductory Redox Laboratory Framed as a Murder Mystery. Journal of Chemical Education. 95(10), 1840-1847. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00079

French, A. N., Barker, M. D., Huber, J., and Morehouse, P., Barybin, M.V., Heppert, J.A. (2004). The Status of Undergraduate Chemical Education. In Chemical Education, edited by J.J. Lagowshi (Series Ed.), in Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS). Developed under the Auspices of the UNESCO, Oxford, UK, Eolss Publishers, (http://www.eolss.net).

Heppert, J. A., French, A. N. Scientists’ Perspective on Reform in Teaching Undergraduate Science:  Serving Pre-service Science Teachers in the Context of a Heterogeneous Student Population.  In D.W. Sunal, and E. L. Wright (Series Eds.), & D. W. Sunal, E.L. Wright, and J. Bland (Vol. Eds.), Research in Science Education. Reform in undergraduate science teaching for the 21st century.  Greenwich, CT:  Information Age Publishing Inc.

Belofsky, G., French, A. N., Wallace, D.R., Dodson, S.L. (2004).  New geranyl stilbenes from Dalea purpurea with in vitro opioid receptor affinity.  Journal of Natural Products, 67(1), 26-30.