Chemistry Professor Becomes First ACS Fellow for Ole Miss

The ACS honored 59 chemistry professionals, including Ritchie, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry and holder of the Stefani-Miller Chair for Teaching Excellence, in August at its fall conference in Chicago.

The society's Local Section Activities committee nominated Ritchie for the award. Besides performing service to the society, fellows must also have contributed significantly to chemistry and the profession.

"What sets Jason apart is that he doesn't stop at teaching chemistry well," said James Cizdziel, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "He creates the courses, collaborations, grant programs and science fairs that allow thousands of students and teachers to succeed after he leaves the room. That is why he is an ACS fellow."

For teaching, Ritchie has earned the Elsie M. Hood Award, the university's highest honor for faculty, as well as the Cora Lee Graham Award for outstanding freshman teaching.

Ritchie's lab trains students to work with polymer electrolytes, used for fuel cells and batteries, and he has contributed to the understanding these electrolytes through several journal articles.

His influence on teaching is not limited to chemistry; he has worked to promote active learning techniques across science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields at Ole Miss. Ritchie's favorite active learning approach is Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, which he recently presented to the society. 

"It is a technique based on guided inquiry," Ritchie said. "Students are asked to invent their own rules for how to interpret phenomena. So, after I lecture a little, students are turned loose for the majority of class to work together to answer problems in groups."

Ritchie has enjoyed working with the society since he was a student in the 1990s.

"It is really important because the ACS is the professional society for chemists," he said. "We offer wonderful opportunities for networking, both for being able to meet people in your field and different employers, both industrial and academic.

"For most of us, ACS Journals are the go-to journal where we want to publish."

Ritchie, who has a member of the Ole Miss faculty since 2000, has created a complete case for this honor, Cizdziel said. 

"He treats teaching, research training and service as one job, not extras," he said. "He does not just teach well in his own rooms; he builds tools and programs so other students and faculty can succeed.

"He also stays with the work. Chairing freshman chemistry since 2009, the science fair since 2006, mentoring dozens of students and helping the campus through COVID pedagogy – that is a long record of showing up. The award recognizes impact that is durable, not just visible."

The society started its fellows program in 2009 to help it become the "most effective global scientific community to engage members and other scientific professionals to advance science education, research, knowledge, interaction and collaboration." It has since named more than 1,500 fellows for outstanding achievements in and contributions to science, the profession and the society. 

Ritchie's selection reflects the high level of work across the department, Cizdziel said.

"That is a strong signal that the department's investment in general chemistry, honors research and statewide outreach counts as professional leadership," he said. "It also raises the bar: Once a campus has an ACS fellow, it becomes easier to imagine the next one and it helps recruit faculty and students who want that kind of career to be possible here."

Top: Chemistry professor Jason Ritchie (center) works with students in his class in the Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Science and Technology Innovation. Ritchie is the university's first faculty member to be named a fellow of the American Chemical Society. Photo by Srijita Chattopadhyay/Ole Miss Digital Imaging Services