Specialties
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Biography
InterestsMy research is in the area of chemical education and in particular, it currently focuses in the fields of active learning and peer teaching. Specifically, I am developing a learner-centered section of General Chemistry where the classroom will be flipped to allow more active time during lectures for projects, collaborative problem solving and creative work. I also collaborate with developers and publishers in the development of new technological tools such as web pages, blogs, smart-phone apps, homework and in-class feedback systems. I am a strong believer in peer-to-peer education in general chemistry courses and am experimenting different ways of integrating peer-teachers in the classroom. Overall, I am interested in experimenting new ways to enhance student engagement through active and supportive classrooms. In fact, promoting motivation and increasing self-efficacy allows students to appreciate the value of chemistry. In the past, I have also focused my efforts in helping international students achieve a basic technical vocabulary to overcome the language barrier obstacle to learning science. International education is another field, to which I hope to soon return.
Select Publications“Synthesis of 1-alkanoyl-1’-(trifluoroacetyl)ferrocenes”, Sobociková, M.; Štěpnička, P.; Ramella, D.; Kotora, M. Collect. Czech. Chem. Commun. 2006, 71/2, 190–196
“Ni(ethyl hexanoate)2/n ligand/Et2AlCl catalyzed cycloisomerization of 1,6-heptadienes to cyclopentane derivatives”, Nečas, D.; Ramella, D.; Rudovska, I.; Kotora, M. J.Mol.Cat. A: Chemical, 2007, 274, 78-82 “Intermolecular interactions between the different sub-fractions of casein micelles detected by FT-NIR and Ft-IR”, Giangiacomo, R.; Ramella, D.; Cattaneo, T.M.P.; Cabassi, G. Proceedings of ICNIRS 2007 Umea, Sweden 2008 “Essential Oil composition of lady’s mantle (Alchemilla xanthochlora Rothm.) growing wild in Alpine pastures”, Falchero, L.; Coppa, M.; Fossi, A.; Lombardi, G.; Ramella, D.; Tava, A. Nat. Prod. Res. 2009, 23(15), 1367-1372 “Volatile constituents of Trifolium pratense and T. repens from N.E. Italian alpine pastures”, Tava, A.; Ramella, D.; Grecchi, M.; Aceto, P.; Paoletti, R.; Piano, E. Nat. Prod. Comm. 2009, 4(6), 835-838 “Chiral phosphoramidic acids catalyzed Mannich Reaction”, Ramella, D.; Schaus, S.E. Proceedings of ACS National Meeting Boston, MA, 2010 “Development of Technical Chemistry Language Skills for Non-native Speakers”, Ramella, D. Proceedings of ACS National Meeting Boston, MA, 2015 "Enantioselective Multicomponent Condensation Reactions of Phenols, Aldehydes, and Boronates Catalyzed by Chiral Biphenols", Barbato, K.; Luan, Y.; Ramella, D.; Panek, J. K.; Schaus, S. E. Org. Lett., 2015, 17 (23), 5812–5815 |