Like all educators, I have been inspired by great teachers and strive to do the same for my students. My grandfather was a lifelong educator who began his career in a one-room school house, teaching eight grades. He was one of the most respected individuals in the county, ending his career as County Superintendent of Schools.

Although I attended a rural Appalachian high school in the coal mining country of southwestern Pennsylvania, my science teachers challenged me to learn by doing. My high school physics class used the Physical Science Study Committee approach, where students learn the laws of physics by doing experiments with simple equipment.

I obtained a gallon of crude oil from an Oil City, PA refinery and did a fractional distillation for my junior-level chemistry class, and bleached the curtains in my patent’s house when I mixed sulfuric acid (siphoned from an automobile battery) with Clorox in a futile attempt to make hydrochloric acid. Of course, we felt it was necessary to study acceleration by dropping bricks, with paper tapes attached, from the roof of the high school (which landed us in the principal’s office).

I started undergraduate research as a sophomore at Penn State, working in Joseph Dixon’s laboratory on a physical organic mechanistic problem that dominated my life for the next three years. I regularly communicate with Joe, and occasionally make the drive back to State College to have lunch with him and his wife, Jo. My goal as an educator is to convey the excitement of discovery to my students, hoping that they will be inspired to choose a career in science, learning by experience.

I have taught most chemistry classes offered at Northern Arizona University in my career as a chemistry professor, and my classroom evaluations have always been excellent. Currently, I freely use the internet and an LCD projector to illustrate lecture topics, like looking at the most recent satellite ozone images when discussing atmospheric CFCs. I have developed an extensive Web site (Environmental Chemistry, CHM 440) for my environmental chemistry course and use this as a resource that improves student learning and their opinion of the class.

I have offered NAU’s environmental chemistry class to distributed learning students as a video taped class, by satellite delivered by the Dish Network, and as an exclusive Web-based course. Technology can be helpful in the classroom, especially in distance learning situations, but I also know that nothing beats a face-to-face interactive classroom experience.

My passion is with the laboratory, and my most creative teaching has been with laboratories I have developed and the experiments I have had my students perform. I have taught an applied instrumental analysis course at NAU that has evolved considerably over the years. Students who enroll in the class are graduating seniors and the course fulfills the instrumental analysis requirement for ACS chemistry majors.

In recent years the laboratory has involved an environmental site characterization done in conjunction with the City of Flagstaff Environmental Resources Department. There are many potential hazardous sites in a city with two interstate highways, a major east-west railway, and a metropolitan airport, and the City Engineer willingly provides a good list of projects each semester. Examples of completed student projects include:

1. characterization of a jet fuel burn pit at the Flagstaff Municipal Airport,
2. characterization of “oiled” greens at the former Flagstaff Country Club, and
3. characterization of lead in soil hazards near old buildings at the Museum of Northern Arizona.

Another project was done with the Arizona Department of Public Transportation, where the students examined the impact of using salt as a de-icing agent on the interstate highways. Runoff from large snow events in Arizona actually dilute the natural salt levels in small streams near the highways following use of road salt. My students have done other projects, like measuring the protein content of hamburgers from the fast-food chains in Flagstaff (it is about 50%, the balance being fat and water).

In projects of this nature the students take ownership of the problem, and become involved to a degree that is unmatched in any traditional laboratory setting. Wherever possible, I believe students should be included in the design of the laboratory exercises; doing so creates a level of interest that catalyzes learning and develops an on-going fascination to solve original problems.

I have always maintained an research group of about three undergraduate students and one or two master’s level students who have worked on projects employing flame atomic absorption spectroscopy and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. With the acquisition of an ICP-MS I have had students using this technique as well. The focus of my research throughout my academic career has been on the movement of trace metals through the environment, and this provides unlimited research opportunities for undergraduate students to contribute to a research effort that often leads to presentations at regional or national scientific meetings. A partial list of representative student presentations is given below.

The most effective learning takes place when students have the opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge to solving real problems. Chemistry has a unique position among the academic disciplines with its strong tradition of laboratory classes where students do experiments to reinforce the concepts described in lecture. Expanding the opportunities for students to do laboratory work through creative laboratory design is the best way to encourage individuals to pursue a chemistry career. For students who chose not to become chemists, a positive laboratory experience will at least help the individuals gain an understanding and appreciation of science, benefiting society with better educated and enlightened citizens.

Representative list of student presentations:

• “Chemical investigations into the disappearance of the Sinaguan inhabitants of the Montezuma Well, Verde Valley, Arizona,” J. Senanayake and R.D. Foust, Jr., American Chemical Society 229th National Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 14, 2005. Paper No. ANYL 0250.
• “Determining the source of arsenic in Montezuma Well, Arizona,” M. Brandstrom and R.D. Foust, Jr., American Chemical Society 229th National Meeting, San Diego, CA, March 15, 2005. Paper No. CHED 0305.
• “Potential Use of 234U/238U and 65Cu/63Cu Isotope Ratiios for Tracing Mine Drainage Through the Orphan Breccia Pipe, Grand Canyon National Park,” V. S. Blackwood, , R. D. Foust, Jr., and D. Liebe, 17th Rocky Mountain regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Albuquerque, NM, October 12-15, 2002.
• “Comparative Study of Spring Discharges in the Grand Canyon National Park, Their Chemical Composition and Kinetics,” D. Liebe, R. D. Foust, Jr., and V. S. Blackwood, 17th Rocky Mountain regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Albequerque, NM, October 12-15, 2002.
• “Investigation in Arsenic Speciation in Montezuma Well, Arizona,” A. M. Compton, R. D. Foust, Jr., D. E. Salt and M. Ketterer, Sixth International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, July 29-August 2, 2001.
• “Analysis of Lead isotope Ratiios in Standard Reference Materials,” K. Givler and R. D. Foust, Jr., 221st National Meeting of the American Chemiscal Society, San Diego, CA, April 1-5, 2001.
• “Arsenic Accumulation in Potomogeton illinoiensios in Montezuma Well, Arizona,” A. M. Compton, R. D. Foust, Jr., and D. E. Salt, 221st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, San Diego, CA, April 1-5, 2001.
• “Chemistry of Several Hot Arsenic Springs and a Silicon Terrace in Yellowstone National Park,” B. Waisley, R. E. Mielke, G. Southam and R. D. Foust, Jr. 221st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, San Diego, CA, April 1-5, 2001.
• “Water Chemistry of Grand Canyon National Park Springs,” V. Blackwood, W. Mason and R. D. Foust, Jr. 221st National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, San Diego, CA, April 1-5, 2001.
• “Arsenic Cycling in Montezuma Well, Arizona,” Anne-Marie Compton and Richard D. Foust, Jr., Arizona Hydrological Society’s Symposium 2000: Environmental Technologies for the 21st Century, Phoenix, Az, September 20-23, 2000.
• “Analysis of Environmental Contamination Sources Through Isotope Ratio Measurements,” Kimberly A. Givler and Richard D. Foust, Jr., 42nd Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry, Broomfield, CO, July 30-August 3, 2000.
• “Variation of Lead Contamination Sources Through Isotopic Identification,” Kim Givler and Richard D. Foust, Jr., 44th Annual Meeting of the Arizona Nevada Academy of Science, Tucson, AZ, April 2000.
• “Trace Metal Transport in Arid Environments,” K. Neely, Christopher Lewers, Gordon Southam and Richard D. Foust, Jr., 44th Annual Meeting of the Arizona Nevada Academy of Science, Tucson, AZ, April 2000.
• “Atmospheric Lead Deposition at the Mohave Power Plant in Laughlin, Nevada,” J-U Kuhn and Richard D. Foust, Jr., 44th Annual Meeting of the Arizona Nevada Academy of Science, Tucson, AZ, April 2000.
• “Atmospheric Heavy Metal Deposition in the Vicinity of the Navajo Power Plant, Page Arizona” T. N. Thomas, J. Regner and Richard D. Foust, Jr., 44th Annual Meeting of the Arizona Nevada Academy of Science, Tucson, AZ, April 2000.