Overview

Dr. Heider aims to expand the awareness, knowledge, and problem-solving skills of diverse student populations and improve the community perception and accessibility of science. She earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Utah developing spectroscopic microscopy methods to study liposomes. She then completed a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Central Florida developing spectro-electrochemical methods study contaminants in water and applying chemometric tools to classify forensic fibers. Her present research focuses on the application of analytical methodology to study environmental hazards and discipline-based educational research. She currently serves the professional community as the chair of the Central Utah local section of the American Chemical Society.

Courses

As a faculty member at Utah Valley University, Dr. Heider teaches Principles of Chemistry I and II, lecture and laboratory, and Analytical Chemistry lecture and laboratory.

When teaching general chemistry courses, she works to engage students with the content through a variety of methods:

-In class group activities: Students work collaboratively for approximately 20% of class time to solve problems and apply the abstract content to real problems. As a class we discuss the solutions and student insights to the problems.

-In class recall activities: Students solve warm-up problems to review previous content and apply a foundational concept to a different scenario.

-Application to real world problems: A variety of assignments are provided to help students recognize the chemistry they perform in their daily lives, and the properties of chemicals they regularly utilize.

–Service-learning: Students develop content to teach science concepts for outreach and K-12 education.

-Problem-solving discussions: When teaching asynchronous online courses, she hosts virtual problem-solving discussions twice weekly. The problems that will be discussed are posted at the beginning of the week, and recordings are made available for students who can’t attend in real time. This provides online students with the opportunity to engage in discussions of the content in an informal setting.

Research

Dr. Heider has worked to establish undergraduate research programs, providing opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and expand their skills through research. This activity has resulted in publication of scholarly manuscripts and professional presentations with student co-authorship from historically underrepresented groups, and first-generation college students. If you are a UVU student interested in conducting research projects, reach out to Dr. Heider. Major themes of Dr. Heider’s research encompass discipline-based educational research (DBER) and the application of analytical methods to solve environmental problems.

Selected Publications

Select for the most recent list of publications, citations and h-index.

Williamson, D., Bergman, A., Heider, E.C., Nagy, G. Experimental Measurements of Relative Mobility Shifts Resulting from Isotopic Substitutions with High-Resolution Cyclic Ion Mobility Separations. Analytical Chemistry (2022), 94, 6, 2988-2995. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.1c05240

Zare, M., Kitt, J.P., Wen, X., Heider, E.C., Harris, J.M. Hybrid-Lipid Bilayers Induce n-Alkyl-Chain Order in Reversed-Phase Chromatographic Surfaces, Impacting their Shape Selectivity for Aromatic Hydrocarbon Partitioning.  Analytical Chemistry (2021), 92, 8, 4118-4125. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c05467

Alheety, S., Valenti, D., Mujumdar, N., Ellis, N., Campiglia, A.D., Harper, J.K., Heider, E.C. Characterization of a Bio‐sourced, Fluorescent, Ratiometric pH Indicator with Alkaline pKa. Photochemistry and Photobiology 2020, 96 (6), 1176-1181. https://doi.org/10.1111/php.13299

Welch, J. Simmons, V., Meléndez, E., Sees, M., Gold, Y., Heider, EC. Assessment of Non-Anthropogenic Addition of Uric Acid to a Water Treatment Wetlands. Environments (2020), 7(8), 60. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7080060

Maccione, J., Welch, J., Heider, EC. Curve Fitting, Linear Algebra, and Solver in an Analytical Chemistry Course: A Facile and Safe Activity Suitable for the Classroom Setting. Journal of Chemical Education (2020) 97, 4, 1053–1060. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00421

Heider, EC.; Valenti, D.; Long, R.; Garbou, A.; Rex, M.; Harper, J. Quantifying Sucralose in a Water-Treatment Wetlands: Service-Learning in the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. Journal of Chemical Education (2018) 95, 535-542.  https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.7b00490

Harper, J. K.; Heider, EC. Data Linearization Activity for Undergraduate Analytical Chemistry Lectures. Journal of Chemical Education (2017) 94, 610-614. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00687

Heider, EC.; Mujumdar, N; Campiglia, A.D. Identification of Detergents for Forensic Fiber Analysis. Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (2016), 408, 7935-7943. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00216-016-9927-8