Lloyd Parker

Lloyd Parker, Associate Professor of Chemistry, received his B.S. in Chemistry from Berry College in 1972, his M.S. in Analytical Chemistry from Emory University in 1974 (thesis title, Analytical Chemical Applications of Pattern Recognition and Experimental Optimization), and his Ph.D. from the University of Houston in 1978 (dissertation title, Computer-Assisted Optimization in Analytical Chemistry). His research has been primarily in the field of optimization in chemistry, using the sequential simplex algorithm. Chemical systems he applied this to included gas chromatography, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and automated clinical chemistry analyzers.

At Oxford, Dr. Parker teaches General Chemistry (Chemistry 150) and Analytical Chemistry (Chemistry 260). Although a sophomore-level analytical chemistry course normally concentrates on "wet" methods (e.g., volumetric and gravimetric analyses), he has made Chemistry 260 an instrumental analysis course, as almost all analytical chemistry today is carried out using instruments. In this course, he covers spectroscopy and chromatography primarily, along with statistics and regression analysis.He has developed a Forensic Chemistry course, Chemistry 160, which is designed for nonscience majors.

One of his interests involves incorporating writing into chemistry courses. Students in his General Chemistry class write an out-of-class essay for each exam and some lab reports. Students in his Analytical Chemistry class write five major formal lab reports, making this a writing-intensive course.

Class Materials: