John Kirk
John Kirk
- Co-Director, Teaching Commons; Associate Professor of Chemistry
Professor John Kirk teaches courses in analytical and general chemistry. He earned his B.A. at Coe College and Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He completed post-doctoral research at the University of Arizona in bioanalytical chemistry and at the University of Iowa in chemical education. He taught chemistry and nanoscience courses for eight years as an assistant and associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. He joined the Carthage faculty in 2016.
Prof. Kirk’s active areas of research include applying innovative teaching methods in college chemistry courses as well as developing novel sensors based on nanoscale materials. Students performing research with him gain experience in synthesizing gold and silica nanoparticles, assembling mesoscale structures from these particles, and characterizing these materials with various methods including spectroscopy and electron microscopy. Professor Kirk and his students have presented their work at several conferences, including the National Conference of Undergraduate Research, National Conferences of the American Chemical Society, and the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (PittCon).
Prof. Kirk is passionate about getting students involved in undergraduate research, both inside and outside of the classroom. He also serves as an external evaluator for chemical education research grants and is a coauthor for the 9th Edition of the American Chemical Society’s liberal arts chemistry text, “Chemistry in Context.”
In his spare time, Prof. Kirk enjoys running, traveling, and spending time with his family.
- Ph.D. – Analytical Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- B.A. – Chemistry, Coe College
- CHM 1000 Better Living Through Chemistry
- CHM 1020 General Chemistry II
- CHM 3110 Advanced Integrated Laboratory
- CHM 3230 Analytical Chemistry I
- CHM 3240 Analytical Chemistry II
Prof. Kirk’s active areas of research include applying innovative teaching methods in college chemistry courses as well as developing novel sensors based on nanoscale materials.