Rate My Professor Jennifer Nielson

Jennifer Nielson is a Teaching Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Brigham Young University, specializing in organic chemistry. She earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Brigham Young University in 1988, an M.S. in Chemistry in 1992, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1997 from the University of California, San Diego. Her professional career began as a Research Chemist at DuPont Corporation from 1988 to 1989 and at Carolinas Medical Center from 1989 to 1990. Nielson joined Brigham Young University in 1999 as an Instructor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, transitioned to full-time professional teaching faculty in 2004, was promoted to Assistant Teaching Professor in 2004-2008, Associate Teaching Professor from 2008 to 2014, and Teaching Professor since 2014. Additionally, she has served as Associate Dean in the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences since 2017.

Nielson's research interests focus on science literacy and chemical education. She leads international projects in Uganda, designing hands-on classroom and lab experiments to train secondary school and pre-service teachers in inquiry and problem-based pedagogy, in collaboration with Makerere University, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, and the Ugandan National Curriculum Development Center. Her team initiated a project in 2023 for Ugandan university faculty based on the NSF-funded BYU STEM Faculty Institute, which promotes active-learning in STEM lectures, evaluated through randomized control trials. Key publications include 'Refuting Myths about Secondary Chemistry Teaching: Getting the Facts Out to Current and Future Educators' (Journal of Chemical Education, 2019), 'STEM Faculty Institute: An Intensive Interdisciplinary Effort To Improve STEM Faculty Adoption of Evidence-based Instructional Practices' (Journal of College Science Teaching, 2020), 'Lactose Chemistry' (book chapter, 2012), and 'Strong Hydrogen Bonds in Chemistry and Biology' (Annual Review of Physical Chemistry, 1997). She received the Karl G. Maeser Professional Faculty Excellence Award from Brigham Young University in 2015, the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Teaching Award for 3-10 years experience in 2011, and served as Co-PI on NSF DUE-1712056 grant in 2017. Nielson chaired the American Chemical Society Society Committee on Education from 2018 to 2020, guest-edited a special issue of the Journal of Chemical Education on diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect in chemistry education, and co-created BYU Chem Camp for youth ages 9-14.