 Theresa Julia Zielinski is a Professor of Chemistry in the Department of Chemistry, Medical Technology and Physics at Monmouth University. Prior to joining the Monmouth faculty she held tenured positions at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, Bronx, NY and Niagara University near Niagara Falls NY. She has taught a variety of chemistry courses for chemistry majors and non- science majors for over 35 years. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Fordham University in the Bronx borough of New York City.
After 15 years of active computational chemistry research spanning the fields of Quantum Chemistry and Molecular Dynamics she has turned her efforts to focus on the uses of computers in Chemical Education. The major thrust here is to develop instructional materials for the Physical Chemistry Curriculum using commercially available software. These materials are designed to take advantage of the research in the learning styles and intellectual development stages of adults and young adults and to create more active learning environments within which students can learn more effectively and efficiently. She currently maintains a WWW site for physical chemistry instructional materials. Other current research interests include 1) elucidation of the fine structure of DNA mini-helices through molecular dynamics computer simulations and 2) structure function relationships of biomacromolecules. She has used computers in teaching and research for her entire 35 year career.
Zielinski has authored or co-authored over 45 highly cited peer reviewed research papers and in the past five years presented over 25 talks and organized several meetings for American Chemical Society national and regional meetings. She is a member of the Chemical Education, Computational Chemistry, Biological Chemistry and Physical Chemistry divisions of the American Chemical Society. She currently serves on the Computers in Chemical Education and Physical Chemistry Examination committees of the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Education in addition to being the feature editor of this column. As of August 1999 she will be coordinating the NSF funded project entitled "Physical Chemistry On-Line, Establishment of Multi-institutional Learning Environment for Physical Chemistry Students." The On-Line project builds on previous projects to develop teaching modules in physical chemistry and to enhance the physical chemistry laboratory experience for students.
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