Patricia Mabrouk, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (COS)
Description of Subject Interest and Expertise: My group is interdisciplinary. We work in two main domains: research ethics and science education pedagogy. We use quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research methodologies. We are interested in learning how chemistry faculty and students make ethical decisions in their work and identifying methods to positively inform and impact their decision-making. We are also interested in learning how students choose chemistry as a major, what they know about chemistry as a discipline, and what factors influence their decision to leave the major when they choose to do so. Interested students do not need to have any specific technical background. The most important traits are a passion for learning, a willingness to work hard, strong time management skills, and a willingness to learn.
Description of Current Project/Scholarly Endeavor: A subject of active interest in our group is the knowledge of faculty, graduate students, and chemistry majors about copyright and fair use. Today, with open access to everything from clip art to research publications on the Internet, the issue of making sure that individuals creating original works in fixed media receive credit for their copyrightable work is critical. Little work has been done to probe the knowledge and awareness of chemists who are digital natives but may not be digitally literate in the norms of copyright rights and permissions. In this survey study, we seek to find out whether student chemists learn about copyright anywhere in their curriculum, what they learn, and what their attitudes are toward rights and responsibilities associated with copyrightable materials.
Profile of Student Researcher: Interested students must complete the CITI human subjects training course (available online) and be willing to commit to 8 h per week of reading, analysis, interviewing/focus group, survey design, and writing, and meet with me once or twice a week (1 h) to make good progress on their research projects.
Email: p.mabrouk@northeastern.edu