Rate My Professor Caroline Pharr

In her teaching role at Carroll College, Pharr instructs General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry, and the Integrated Laboratory course. Her areas of academic interest are organic chemistry and chemical education. Pharr directs an active undergraduate research laboratory focused on the synthesis and study of carbene intermediates, reactive species essential to metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions that form carbon-carbon bonds in organic synthesis and prevalent in interstellar space. She has mentored numerous undergraduate researchers, several of whom have won external funding and presented their work at national conferences, including American Chemical Society meetings. One notable collaboration was with Myunghoon Kim (class of 2014), who worked on the design, synthesis, and characterization of novel organic molecules with potential applications in emerging technologies.

Caroline Pharr's key publications include "Photochemistry of 1-(2- and 3-Thienyl)diazoethanes: Spectroscopy and Tunneling Reaction of Triplet 1-(3-Thienyl)ethylidene" published in the Journal of Organic Chemistry (2023, with B.J. Esselman and R.J. McMahon) and "Quantifying the Rate Copper Leaches From a Copper Drinking Vessel Into Simulated Beverages Under Conditions of Consumer Use" in the Journal of Environmental Health (2022, with J.G. Rowley and nine undergraduate co-authors). In March 2024, she presented "Synthesis and Study of Carbene Intermediates" at the National American Chemical Society Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Through her teaching excellence, research mentorship, and contributions to the literature, Pharr significantly bolsters the chemistry program and student success at Carroll College.