Science helps us make our world cleaner, be healthier, and improves our understanding of the world we live in. Since science goes slowly, we work to help our community understand the impact of scientific research today.

The Dempsey group helps members of our community appreciate the wonders of science through several means, each intended to help others learn something new about the world around us. Through the Morehead Planetarium’s Inspiring Meaningful Programs and Communication Through Science (IMPACTS) Program  (formerly the Science Communication Ambassadors Program), many of our graduate students have made hands-on activities for the public to learn about the science we do. For example, we have made activities about the really tiny bits of matter we call quantum dots to explain why they are so colorful and useful, as well as an activity to explore how a plant synthesizes sugar. We continue to have a lot of fun making new hand-on activities and exploring these ideas with children and parents. We showcase these activities at events like the UNC Science Festival, programs at Morehead Planetarium and in local schools.

We welcome opportunities to open our labs to visitors and share what we do every day. We routinely give tours to groups including the Climate LEAP program, visiting students, and even our parents!

In addition to educating members of our local North Carolina community, the Dempsey Group has developed resources to help newcomers to our scientific community. Specifically we have published tutorials that illustrate how electroanalytical tools can be applied to investigate reaction mechanism. Through these articles, we have provided researchers with approachable and comprehensive guides to applying cyclic voltammetry to assess molecular catalysts that mediate electrochemical transformations in their own research programs. We also run an annual 3-day workshop for chemists from around the country, Cyclic Voltammetry Boot Camp.  Cyclic Voltammetry Boot Camp provides participants with the practical knowledge necessary to carry out robust cyclic voltammetry measurements in their independent research. The workshop includes both lectures and hands-on laboratory sessions.

We hope these contributions will advance the field by guiding researchers in the application of best experimental practices for the assessment of electrocatalysis.