James Wingrave, Assistant Professor(302) 831-1676 • wingrave@udel.edu
Colloid and Interface Science
(b. 1947) B.A., 1969, Emporia (KS) State University; Ph.D., 1975, University of Texas at Austin; Postdoctoral, 1975 – 1976, University of Texas at Austin
Educational activities have been focused on undergraduate general chemistry and analytical chemistry courses. In general chemistry lecture, personal response devices (PDD) will be used this semester to allow 325+ students to anonymously respond to quiz questions in lecture and immediately see a projected histogram of class responses. In addition, Workshop exercises have been written for both General Chemistry and Quantitative Analysis classes. In these Workshops (42 Workshop sections of nominally 20 students each, this semester), students work through chemistry problems under the oversight of a Workshop Leader. Each Workshop Leader is trained in the Peer-Led Team Learning method of instruction. In this new and innovative teaching method Workshop Leaders facilitated students who solve problems through group discussions and participation. The PLTL method creates a barrier-free learning environment among students and the Workshop Leader.
In addition to teaching, laboratory activities include, rewriting and publishing, with coauthors, a General Chemistry Laboratory Manual and publication of 3 different Quantitative Analysis Laboratory Manuals. For the general chemistry laboratories, a new pre-lab instructional tool has been developed which is referred to as "Activity-Based Pre-Labs" . In the ABPL exercises, groups of four students each perform the laboratory exercise with a known sample followed by a discussion among groups after a nominal twenty minute lab activity. In this way, students are introduced to the laboratory experiment using a known prior to performing the experiment for an unknown sample. Publications describing this prelab method and its implementation are underway.
Research interests lie in the areas of kinetic and equilibrium adsorption of molecules and polymers at interfaces. These areas of research are continuations of work reported in my recent publications. Industrial seminars on Colloid topics and applications are also available. Technological applications for this research include; paper manufacture, adsorption of environmental pollutants, migration of soil nutrients, adsorption on membrane surfaces and polymer molecules, electrostatic properties of organic and inorganic interfaces, adhesion, paints and coatings, detergency, foam and particulate dispersion stability, viscosity modification, etc.