Mitchell R. Bruce
Associate Professor of Chemistry
277 Aubert
(207)581-1190

Email: mbruce@maine.edu
URL: http://chemistry.umeche.maine.edu/mbruce/mbruce.html

Research Interests:
The inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry of gold sulfur complexes including weak gold-gold interactions and their influence on electronic structure and reactivity; oxidation of gold-sulfur complexes either by chemical or electrochemical means; formation of gold cluster complexes especially via an oxidative route; photochemical reactivity of gold-gold bonded complexes; and chemical reactivity involving gold-sulfur mediated thiolate-disulfide reactions.

Chemical Education Interests:
He has been involved in a variety of chemical education projects. He is co-originator and present Director of the InterChemNet project (http://icn.umeche.maine.edu/icn/). Funded by U.S. Department of Education and instrument manufacturers, the project involves making chemical instrumentation accessible to students (UV-vis and FTIR), permitting experimental choice, developing unique student assignments, and integrating assessment in large introductory chemistry courses. Six high schools and another college will participate in the project next year. In the area of Peer Led Team Learning, he has been responsible (with F. Amar) for introducing PLTL to the University of Maine's chemistry department and has helped develop a highly successful PLTL leader-training program. Over the course of two semesters, 6 faculty and 60 PLTL leaders have helped 1,000 general chemistry students learn chemistry. He was also instrumental in the formation of the UMaine Center for Science and Mathematics Educational Research; FIE #R125K010106 (http://perlnet.umephy.maine.edu/center/). During the last three years, over twenty-five national presentations have resulted from these chemical education projects.