Brian Esselman
Credentials: PhD
Position title: Distinguished Associate Organic Lab Director and Lecturer
Pronouns: he/him/his
Email: esselman@wisc.edu
Website: ORCiD
Phone: 608.262.1479
Address:
Room 5446, Department of Chemistry
1101 University Avenue
Madison, WI 53706
EDUCATION
B.S. 2000, UW-Madison, Chemistry
M.S. 2004, UW-Madison, Educational Psychology
M.S. 2009, UW-Madison, Chemistry
Ph.D. 2012, UW-Madison, Chemistry
CURRENT RESEARCH
I am equally passionate about Organic Chemistry Education and gas-phase high-resolution infrared and rotational spectroscopy. I am fortunate to have a position at UW-Madison that allows me to enjoy both realms: my profession (teaching organic chemistry) and my hobby (spectroscopy). I teach and develop curricula and assessments for the organic lecture courses (CHEM 343, 343H, 345, 345H, and 641) and organic laboratory course (CHEM 344). As part of that work, I collaborate with other instructional staff, faculty and chemistry education researchers (Stowe Group). My curricular focus is on using authentic data, supported with computational chemistry, to allow students to make sense of chemistry phenomena using structure-energy relationships. Additionally, I have maintained a continuous research effort on the gas-phase spectroscopy of small organic molecules with a focus on interactions between their vibrationally excited states and their semi-equilibrium structures (McMahon|Woods Group).