Harold H. Harris
Professor Harris received
his B.S. degree from Harvey Mudd College, and his Ph.D. from
Michigan State University. He joined the UM-St. Louis Chemistry
faculty in 1970 following a postdoctoral fellowship at the
University of California-Irvine. He has spent leaves at University
of Chicago, the Solar Energy Research Institute (Golden, Colorado),
and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Dayton, Ohio), and The
University of the Western Cape (South Africa)
hharris@umsl.edu
Office: B315e
Phone: (314) 516-5344
Research Interests
Over the years, Professor
Harris has published research in several areas of physical
chemistry: collision-induced dissocation of ions, chemical
kinetics at suprahigh pressure, experimental and theoretical
dynamics of molecular and ionic collisions, and the dynamics
of cellular flames. Since he accepted a joint appointment
in the College of Education as well as in the Chemistry Department
of the College of Arts and Sciences, the focus of his work
has tended increasingly toward science education.
Professor Harris originated and currently edits "The Chemical Education Resource Shelf"
(CERS), an online feature of the Journal of Chemical Education.
The contents of the CERS, which includes comprehensive information
about textbooks, software, models, and references for chemical
educators, is published twice per year (February and September)
with the Journal. Professor Harris also edits "The Cost-Effective
Teacher", a feature in the printed edition that describes
clever and inexpensive equipment for laboratories and demonstrations,
and he writes the popular monthly column, "Hal's Picks
of the Month".
Professor Harris a pioneer in the use of computer symbolic/numerical
mathematical processors in teaching physical chemistry.
A "Carnot
Cycle" tutorial exemplifying this technique is about to
be published in Journal of Chemical Education:Online.
See http://www.monmouth.edu/~tzielins/mathcad/HHarris/doc001.htm.
Professor Harris is involved in the study of the effectiveness
of significant changes that the Chemistry Department
is making in its Introductory Chemistry courses.
Selected Publications
"Summer Reading", H. H. Harris, R. M. Pagni, C. Frech, B. Coppola and J. Kovac, Journal of Chemical Education 2007, 84, 916.
"Sorting Recycled Trash: An Activity for Earth Day 2007", M. E. Harris and H. H. Harris, Journal of Chemical Education 2007, 84, 204.
(Book reviews) "Summer Reading", R. M. Pagni, C. Frech, B. P. Coppola, H. H. Harris and J. Kovac, Journal of Chemical Education 2005, 82, 817.
(Review) "You Be the Chemist Kit", H. H. Harris, Journal of Chemical Education 2005, 82, 530
"Hands on Plastics", H. H. Harris and M. E. Harris, Journal of Chemical Education 2005, 82, 209.
(Book review) "Galileo's Finger: The Ten Great Ideas of Science" (by Peter Atkins), H. H. Harris, Journal of Chemical Education, 2004, 81, 1423.
(Book review) "Chemical Misconceptions—Prevention, Diagnosis and Cure" (by Keith Tabor), H. H. Harris, Journal of Chemical Education, 2003, 80, 491.
(Book
review) Harris, Harold H. "Naturally
Dangerous: Surprising Facts about
Food, Health, and the Environment", (by
James Collman), Journal of Chemical Education, 2002, 79, 35.
"Simple
Lattice Simulation of Chiral Discrimination in Monolayers",
L. Mao, H. H. Harris, and K. J. Stine. Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sciences, 2002,42, 1179.
"The Carnot Cycle", H. H. Harris, Journal of Chemical Education, 2001, 78, 1556.
(Book review) "A Biography of Distinguished Scientist Gilbert Newton Lewis" (by Edward S. Lewis), H. H. Harris, . Journal of Chemical Education. 1999, 76(11), 1487.
"Is It Real Gold?', H. H. Harris, Journal of Chemical Education, 1999, 76, 198.
"Electrical Perturbation of Cellular Premixed Propane/Air Flames", C. L. Maupin and H. H. Harris, Combustion and Flame, 1994, 97, 435.
"Instrumental Analysis Courses Part 1. The Current Experimental Practice", H. H. Harris and J. J. O'Brien. Journal of Chemical Education 1992, 69, A266.
"Correlation Function Diagnosis of Chaotic Vibrations in HCN", Y. J. Cho, P. R. Winter, H. H. Harris, E. D. Fleischmann and J. E. Adams, J. Phys. Chem., 1990, 94, 1847.
"Parallels Between Adolescents' Conception of Gases and the History of Chemistry", C. J. Furio Mas, J. H. Perez and H. H. Harris, J. Chem. Educ., 1987, 64, 617.