University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

PhD in Organic Chemistry

Carson-Newman University, Jefferson City, TN

B.A. in Chemistry and Philosophy 

I teach in a few areas of chemistry including sharing responsibilities for general chemistry (CHEM 111 & 112) with the other chemistry faculty. I always teach organic chemistry (CHEM 211 & 212), which was my emphasis in graduate school and also was one of my favorite courses when I was an undergraduate. 

I love teaching chemistry because I have always been curious about the way things work beyond the surface level, and I always enjoy connecting with students who have that same curiosity. 

All of my research connects chemistry techniques with biological questions, and often includes an environmental component. Most recently, I have been conducting a series of studies on Appalachian maple syrup made at small farms in the region. I am curious about the chemical composition of the syrup beyond the abundant sugars, and have been monitoring antioxidants and phenolic compounds in maple syrups to investigate differences that may be caused by the time of year the sap was harvested and boiled, or by the particular species of maple tree which provided the sap. I have observed patterns across different samples of syrup that begin to reveal how flavor profiles and antioxidant strength are affected by the production variables. My favorite part of any research project is getting students involved!

Here are some recent presentations that came out of the maple syrup work:

Gibson, C. (2023). Development of Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories in the Analysis of Maple Syrup Antioxidants and Phenolics. Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science, 95(2). https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v95i2.992

Davis, G. and Gibson, C. (2023). Influence of Acer species and time of sap collection on the antioxidant capacity and abundance of simple phenolic compounds in the methylene chloride extract of pure maple syrups from West Virginia. Presented at Crossroads of Chemistry, the Spring 2023 national meeting of the American Chemical Society. Indianapolis, IN

Gibson, C. (2023). Exploring Antioxidant Variance in West Virginia Maple Syrups. Presented at Junior Science and Humanities Symposium, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, WV.