Keynote Speaker
Thomas A. Holme
Iowa State University
Morrill Professor
Editor in Chief of the Journal of Chemical Education
Thomas A. Holme is a Morrill Professor in the Chemistry Department at Iowa State University. He received a BS in Chemistry and Physics from Loras College and his PhD from Rice University studying theoretical chemistry. He held postdoctoral appointments at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Pennsylvania. He began his teaching career as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Zambia, followed by appointments at the University of South Dakota (USD) and the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM), prior to his current appointment at Iowa State University. He served as a visiting exchange professor at Ajou University in Suwon, South Korea. Dr. Holme served as the Director of the ACS Examinations Institute from 2002 - 2015 and currently serves as the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Chemical Education. His research group pursues interests in assessing student understanding of chemistry, incorporating systems thinking approaches in the development of chemistry curricula and exploring how human-computer interaction plays a role in technology enhanced student activities in the chemistry classroom.
Dr. Holme has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement and a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). He received the ACS Pimental Award for Chemistry Education and the James Flack Norris Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Teaching of Chemistry from the Northeast Section of the ACS. He has also been awarded the Helen M. Free Award for Public Outreach from the ACS. He has been recognized with Iowa State University’s most prestigious honors for teaching, including: the Margaret Ellen White Graduate Faculty Award, the Cassling Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching, the Iowa State University Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching, and the Louis Thompson Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award. Teaching awards were also received at his previous institutions, USD and UWM.