About

Philip J. Brucat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Florida. His research focuses on high resolution spectroscopy, electrolytic fluid simulation, grid and remote sensor development, and machine learning. He is involved in teaching upper-level physical chemistry and developing inquiry-based laboratory activities in thermodynamics, transport phenomena, and spectroscopy. Brucat completed his undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning an S.B. in 1977 in the lab of R. W. Field. He then obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1985, working in the lab of Richard N. Zare. Following his doctoral studies, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Rice University from 1986 to 1988, in the lab of Richard Smalley. His academic and research background is rooted in physical chemistry, with a focus on spectroscopy and related experimental techniques.

Research topics

• Artificial Intelligence
• Computer Science
• Systems engineering
• Software engineering
• Engineering

Selected publications

• Optimizing Design Experiences for Future Engineers in a Chemistry Laboratory

  2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access Proceedings · 2024-02-20

  articleOpen access

  His research involves the design, development, and evaluation of STEM cyberlearning environments as well as scientistteacher forms of professional development.Operating from a design-based research perspective, this work focuses on

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• User experience and motivation with engineering design challenges in general chemistry laboratory

  Innovation and Education · 2021-10-18 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Our career-forward approach to general chemistry laboratory for engineers involves the use of design challenges (DCs), an innovation that employs authentic professional context and practice to transform traditional tasks into developmentally appropriate career experiences. These challenges are scaled-down engineering problems related to the US National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges that engage students in collaborative problem solving via the modeling process. With task features aligned with professional engineering practice, DCs are hypothesized to support student motivation for the task as well as for the profession. As an evaluation of our curriculum design process, we use expectancy–value theory to test our hypotheses by investigating the association between students’ task value beliefs and self-confidence with their user experience, gender and URM status. Using stepwise multiple regression analysis, the results reveal that students find value in completing a DC (F(5,2430) = 534.96, p < .001) and are selfconfident (F(8,2427) = 154.86, p < .001) when they feel like an engineer, are satisfied, perceive collaboration, are provided help from a teaching assistant, and the tasks are not too difficult. We highlight that although female and URM students felt less self-confidence in completing a DC, these feelings were moderated by their perceptions of feeling like an engineer and collaboration in the learning process (F(10,2425) = 127.06, p < .001). When female students felt like they were engineers (gender x feel like an engineer), their self-confidence increased (β = .288) and when URM students perceived tasks as collaborative (URM status x collaboration), their self-confidence increased (β = .302). Given the lack of representation for certain groups in engineering, this study suggests that providing an opportunity for collaboration and promoting a sense of professional identity afford a more inclusive learning experience.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Board 33: Persistence of First-year Engineering Majors with a Design-based Chemistry Laboratory Curriculum In- and Out-of-Sequence

  2020-09-10 · 2 citations

  article

  Abstract ChANgE Chem is a curriculum reform model that uses Design Challenges to translate chemistry concepts and laboratory protocols into contextualized problems and methods unique to the way engineering students are expected to learn, think and collaborate. This unique approach is designed to maintain motivation towards an engineering major in the first year while students are taking general chemistry requirements by helping them to better understand the profession and practice. For engineering majors, contextualizing the learning of chemistry in such a way is theorized to strengthen the connection between their knowledge of chemistry and its application in everyday work as an engineer, which should support persistence. This poster reports on a field study across the first semester course for three groups taking general chemistry laboratory for engineers, comparing outcomes for the use of the new curriculum with a more typical business-as-usual approach. This quasi-experimental study compared self-efficacy, academic and career persistence at four milestones for students taking the course in-sequence (fall) versus out-of-sequence (spring). From the institutional perspective, out-of-sequence students are different due to some outside factor(s), which imply that they may face greater persistence related issues. The results reveal a maintenance of self-efficacy across the semester for students using the new curriculum regardless of sequence, compared to an overall decrease for the business-as-usual group, which is what would be predicted by the literature as the norm. No changes in academic or professional persistence were detected for any groups. This suggests that the new curriculum can be effective for promoting academic persistence for students in the first year, regardless of when they take it. However, out-of-sequence students started with and finished with lower levels of self-efficacy, which supports the notion that sequencing is likely an indicator of issues that threaten their persistence. Plans for additional revision to the approach and further study are also discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• Board 160: General Chemistry Laboratory as Situated Engineering Design

  2020 · 4 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Computer Science
  • Systems engineering

  Abstract The laboratory environment can offer valuable first-person experiences that complement and extend the process of learning from other parts of a course. To this end, we are developing a unique laboratory curriculum for undergraduate general chemistry for engineers that more deeply engage students in authentic science and engineering practice. Our NSF-funded Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) project involves curriculum reform for improving the experience of freshman engineering students taking general chemistry involves a series of Design Challenges, which are problem-based laboratory activities based upon the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering. These Design Challenges situate chemistry concepts and skills in an authentic engineering context with supports for the engineering design process. For engineering majors, contextualizing the learning of chemistry in such a way is theorized to strengthen the connection between the domain knowledge of chemistry and its application in everyday work, which enhances interest, efficacy and learning. The user-centered design process enables us to keep our focus on the involvement of our target audience in all stages of development. In this paper, we present results from usability testing to illustrate our iterative evidence-based development process and offer results of an initial pilot study from across one semester of student use. For usability, data sources include video-recorded observations, field notes, student artifacts. For the pilot study, the assessed outcomes include chemistry content knowledge, self-efficacy, metacognition, and motivational variables. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses are used to address the research questions. Plans for additional re-design of the model and further study are discussed.

  PublisherDOI

• T2-D: Using Design Challenges to Envision General Chemistry Lab for Engineers

  Scholarly Commons (Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University) · 2018-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We have developed a unique approach to the laboratory curriculum for undergraduate general chemistry for engineers that is intended to promote the persistence of engineering majors. ChaNgE Chem Lab is a series of Design Challenges that are based upon the NAE Grand Challenges for Engineering. These problem-based laboratory activities involve chemistry concepts and skills in an authentic engineering context with procedures that parallel the engineering design process. For engineering majors, contextualizing the learning of chemistry in such a way is theorized to strengthen the connection between the domain knowledge of chemistry and its application in everyday work, which enhances interest, efficacy and learning. The development and evaluation of this curriculum revolves around the intended users’ perspectives, interests and needs. The usability of each Design Challenge for the intended users is tested at every stage of development and the outcomes become the basis for the iterative process of re-design and evaluation. The user-centered design process enables us to keep our focus on the involvement of our target audience in all stages of development. Usability testing allows us to compare both qualitative and quantitative data across all design iterations. This paper describes the design framework that supports the Design Challenges and the use of usability testing for evaluating the extent to which our design has reached our goals. The outcomes from the first two Design Challenges from a first-semester course are presented. Implications regarding usability, student interest, learning, self-efficacy and perception of engineering are discussed in relation to continued iterative refinement as well as more general curriculum structures that are likely to support the retention of undergraduate engineers.

  Publisher

• A Pilot Study of Project-Based Learning in General Chemistry for Engineers

  2016-07-07 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Engineering education cannot expect to meet the demands of a global, diverse, and knowledge-based society without addressing the well-established issue of student retention. Change Chem is a curriculum reform model created to address this issue for freshman, in particular, traditionally underrepresented student groups. This paper reports on a pilot study of Change Chem, which uses collaborative problem-based learning with model-eliciting activities to transform the discussion section of general chemistry so as to better retain freshman who are engineering majors. The study involved a quasi-experimental design with a treatment (i.e. reformed curriculum) and comparison condition (i.e. business as usual) that was completed over a two-semester sequence. Across the two courses, 530 students consented to participation. Participant outcomes were compared at the course level (treatment group vs. comparison group). In addition, female students and students who were classified as underrepresented ethnic minorities were identified as a single group (i.e. target group) so that their outcomes could be compared across the courses (treatment vs. comparison). After the first course, all groups gained in their perception of learning, but students in the comparison condition had higher grades. Selfefficacy and professional persistence decreased for students using Change Chem. After the second course, Change Chem performed equal to or better than the comparison on all variables. In fact, the Change Chem group increased in three key variables: perception of learning, confidence in their math and science abilities and exposure to project-based learning. This may suggest a treatment effect that requires a longer duration. These results indicate that Change Chem supports learning and motivation for all students, important elements for long-term retention. Plans for additional re-design of the model and further study are discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A design-based apprenticeship approach to transform freshman chemistry for engineering students

  QScience Proceedings · 2015-08-29 · 4 citations

  article

  Engineering education cannot expect to meet the demands of a global, diverse, knowledge-society without addressing a well-established issue of student recruitment and retention. The dropout rate for engineering students is around 40% as shown in various studies of a national scope. This retention issue is particularly prevalent for freshman students, such as in general chemistry. Indicators suggest that lower-division engineering curriculum is not based upon the authentic practice of engineers, thus, not representative of the profession and not attractive to the widest possible population of students. To address this issue, the University of Florida is conducting a project to transform the freshman chemistry curriculum for engineering students to a more contextually relevant and engaging experience with rich context of workplace engineering (Transforming Chemistry with Cognitive Apprenticeship for Engineers - ChANgE Chem). This transformed curriculum situates energy and environmental as fundamental organizing principles in practical engineering problems, communicated as human-interest stories. Based on cognitive apprenticeship, we have developed a sequence of activities that emulate and make explicit, an engineer's way of thinking, knowing and working. In addition, we support student success with design elements that engage deep learning strategies that embody our understanding of effective learning. Organized around the three overarching themes of Design, Develop, and Test, this unique approach creates new learning materials and teaching strategies, develops faculty expertise, implements an educational innovation and assesses student achievement. This transformative curriculum contributes new knowledge about how to design for recruitment and retention, and the project advances our understanding of how people learn chemistry and develop the skills for addressing engineering design problems. This presentation will discuss the framework and creation of engineering mini-projects that complement the major chemistry lecture topics, and discuss the progress and challenges of implementing the mini-projects in weekly recitation sections.

  PublisherDOI

• Infrared spectra and dissociation pathways of the linear carbon–sulfur clusters C_<i>n</i>S and SC_<i>n</i>S (<i>n</i> ≤ 29): Theoretical calculations

  International Journal of Quantum Chemistry · 2004-12-14 · 19 citations

  article

  Abstract Energies, structural parameters, and harmonic vibrational frequencies of the linear carbon–sulfur clusters, C n S m ( n = 1–29, m = 1–2), have been computed using density functional theory (DFT) with the B3LYP exchange‐correlation functional and Pople's 6‐311G* basis set. The energies and equilibrium geometries have been compared to MP2 (Møller–Plesset second‐order perturbation) and CCSD(T) calculations for C 2 S, C 6 S, and C 7 S 2 , three carbon–sulfur clusters recently observed and reported for the first time in the following article. The vibrational frequencies, predicted using B3LYP/6‐311G*, agree satisfactorily with the observed infrared (IR) band frequencies, with only a 17 cm −1 standard deviation for all experimentally known carbon–sulfur cluster CC stretching modes. Dissociation energies calculated for different loss mechanisms indicate that carbon–sulfur clusters prefer to lose CS, in agreement with experimental observations. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005

  PublisherDOI

• Vibrational absorption spectra of C_<i>n</i>S (<i>n</i> = 2, 6) and C_<i>n</i>S₂ (<i>n</i> = 7, 9, 11, 13, 15) linear carbon–sulfur clusters

  International Journal of Quantum Chemistry · 2004-12-14 · 21 citations

  article

  Abstract Carbon–sulfur clusters have been generated by the laser ablation of mixed sulfur–graphite pellets and the pulsed‐jet discharge of acetylene/carbon disulfide/argon or diacetylene/carbon disulfide/argon mixtures. Fourier transform infrared absorption spectroscopic measurements of cryogenic argon matrices, aided by Becke's three‐parameter exchange functional and the gradient‐corrected functional of Lee, Yang, and Paar (B3LYP/6‐311G*) calculations of the previous paper, has led to the identification of six heretofore unknown C n S m clusters: C 6 S, C 7 S 2 , C 9 S 2 , C 11 S 2 , C 13 S 2 , and C 15 S 2 . In addition, C 2 S has also been formed and bands at 1662.6 and 857.2 cm −1 unambiguously assigned to its C–C and C–S stretching modes, respectively. Using 12 C/ 13 C isotopic substitution and density functional theory calculations, bands at 1377.9, 1368.8, 1832.4, and 1796.9 cm −1 have been assigned to the ν 4 , ν 7 , ν 10 , and ν 12 C–C stretching vibrations in linear C 6 S, C 7 S 2 , C 13 S 2 , and C 15 S 2 clusters, respectively. From intensity correlation measurements, the 2056.7, 1938.2, and 1504.5 cm −1 bands have been attributed to the C 7 S 2 (ν 5 , ν 6 ), and C 15 S 2 (ν 13 ) clusters, respectively. A “coincidence plot” has been used to ascribe several additional bands to the C 9 S 2 (ν 7 , ν 8 ), and C 11 S 2 (ν 9 ) clusters. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2005

  PublisherDOI

• Laboratory Infrared Observation of Linear C₇S Carbon−Sulfur Cluster in Solid Argon

  The Journal of Physical Chemistry A · 2003-11-21 · 7 citations

  article

  The linear carbon−sulfur cluster C7S has been generated by pulsed laser evaporation of a carbon/sulfur mixture, deposited in an argon matrix at 12 K, and studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Three new vibrational bands at 2088.1, 1913.6, and 1256.1 cm-1 have been observed. Using density functional and ab initio theoretical methods, these three bands have been assigned to the ν2(σ), ν3(σ), and ν5(σ) fundamental stretching modes, respectively, of linear C7S. These assignments have been confirmed by 13C isotopic shifts. Possible formation mechanisms of C7S in a matrix via addition reactions of C, S, and CS species to the already-formed CnS and Cn carbon−sulfur and carbon clusters are suggested. Finally, vibrational frequencies for the series of linear clusters CnS (n = 1−9) have been calculated at the B3LYP/cc-pVDZ level and compared with available experimental data.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Maria Korolev

  University of Florida

  26 shared

• Kent J. Crippen

  University of Florida

  26 shared

• Chang‐Yu Wu

  University of Florida

  25 shared

• Corey Payne

  24 shared

• D. Bellert

  Baylor University

  24 shared

• Lorelie Imperial

  University of Florida

  24 shared

• T. Buthelezi

  Umkhuseli Innovation and Research Management

  23 shared

• Robert L. Asher

  Iowa State University

  16 shared