Florida Institute of Technology
High Tech with a Human Touch
WINKELMANN, Kurt
Associate Professor
Chemistry Department, College of Science
As a chemist and educator, I devote effort to my teaching and research and I have acheived some success in both. I also have a strong interest in service to Florida Tech, the Melbourne community and my profession.
Educational Background
B.S. Virginia Tech 1995
Ph.D. Auburn University 2000
Postdoctoral Researcher Northwestern University 2001
Recognition & Awards
Florida Tech Andrew W. Revay Jr. Award for Excellence in Service
Current Courses
I teach general and physical chemistry courses and I co-teach Introduction to Nanoscience and Technology, a laboratory course for freshmen.
Professional Experience
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Nano Education
Leadership team member for cCWCS Nanotechnology Education Community of Scholars
Chairman, Public Relations Committee of Orlando Section of ACS
Florida Tech Faculty Senator
Member of the Florida Tech Internationalization of the Campus Committee
Additional Duties
In addition to teaching chemistry and performing research, I serve as the General Chemistry Coordinator for the Chemistry Department. In that capacity, I supervise all of the General Chemistry graduate teaching assistants and work with the chemistry stockroom staff to make sure that students learn as much as possible as they perform their laboratory experiments. Other responsibilities include scheduling General Chemistry classes and organizing homework assignments and final exams.
Current Research
Chemical Education
Many students develop a love for science when they do science in the laboratory. Over the years, I have employed many undergraduate students to help me create and test new experiments for chemsitry and nanotechnology classes. We have implemented and published several of these experiments. My current interests include experiments that highlight applications of nanotechnology and designing virtual chemistry experiments. Projects have been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Read about current and recent projects by clicking on the links to the right.
These new experiments are only useful if they benefit students. This means that we need to understand what students know before the activity and how much they have learned afterwards. Chemical education researchers apply statistical methods with a scientific approach in order to determine how a lab experiment might benefit students. All of my current research includes an evaluates the project's efficacy towards improving student learning.
Physical Chemistry
Understanding the mechanism of a reaction allows us to optimize the reaction rate and predict its outcome. My current research in this area focuses on understanding how visible light can initiate chemical reactions that degrade pollutants into nontoxic or event useful products. Halogenated organic molecules provide interesting target molecules because they have a significant environmental impact as greenhouse gases and many such compounds cannot be destroyed by conventional oxidation techniques.
Nanotechnology
I am also interested in the design and application of novel nanomaterials. For instance, nanoparticles can possess properties very different from the analogous bulk material. Controlling the properties of these nanosized materials and characterizing them is an interesting challenge.
Selected Publications
Kurt Winkelmann, Robert L. Calhoun and G. Mills, “Effects of Periodic Illumination and Aqueous/Organic Interfacial Surface Area on Chain Propagation of CCl3F Reduction” J. Phys. Chem. C, 116(4) 2012, 2829–2837.
Kurt Winkelmann, Helen German, Cory Hodes, Jia Li, Monica Price, Christina Termini, and Catherine Thiele “Synthesis of Iron Nanoparticles in Aqueous and Nonaqueous Solutions and their Use in Simulated Waste Remediation: An Experiment for First-Year College Students” J. Nano Educ., 3(1) 2012, 75-81.
Zaccardi, Margot J.; Winkelmann, Kurt; Olson, Joel A. “Preparation of Chemically Etched Tips for Ambient Instructional Scanning Tunneling Microscopy” J. Chem. Educ. 87(3) 2010, 308-310.
Kurt Winkelmann “Student Participation in Nanotechnology Education Research” CUR Quarterly, 2009, 30(2), 45.
Winkelmann, Kurt “Practical Aspects of Creating an Interdisciplinary Nanotechnology Laboratory Course for Freshmen” J. Nano Educ. 1(1) 2009, 34-41.
Winkelmann, Kurt; Sharma, Virender K.; Lin, Yekaterina; Shreve, Katherine A.; Winkelmann, Catherine; Hoisington, Laura J.; Yngard Ria A. “Reduction of Ferrate(VI) and Oxidation of Cyanate in a Fe(VI)–TiO2–UV–NCO− system” Chemosphere 72(11) 2008, 1694-1699.
Noviello, Thomas; Brooks, Stephen; Winkelmann, Kurt “Preparation of CdS Nanoparticles by First-Year Undergraduates” J. Chem. Educ. 84(4) 2007, 709-710.
Winkelmann, Kurt; Mills, German; Calhoun, Robert L. “Chain Photoreduction of CCl3F in TiO2 Suspensions: Enhancement Induced by O2” J. Phys. Chem. A 110(51) 2006, 13827-13835.
Sharma, Virender K.; Winkelmann, Kurt; Krasnova, Yekaterina; Lee, Changyoul; Sohn, Mary “Heterogeneous Photocatalytic Reduction of Ferrate(VI) in UV-Irradiated Titania Suspensions: Role in Enhancing Destruction of Nitrogen-Containing Pollutants” Int. J. Photoenergy 5(3) 2003, 183-190.
Calhoun, R. L.; Winkelmann, K. J.; Mills, G. “Photoreduction of CFC-11 in TiO2 Suspensions” J. Phys. Chem. B 105(40) 2001, 9739-9746.