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George Mason University

Faculty & Staff Directory

Rebecca Jones

  • Professor
  • Interim Director, STEM Accelerator

    Contact Info

    Dr. Rebecca M. Jones
    Name
    Dr. Rebecca M. Jones
    Preferred Pronouns
    she/her/hers
    Job Title
    Professor
    Interim Director, STEM Accelerator
    Website
    Personal Website
    Phone Number
    703-993-1084
    Office Number
    Planetary Hall, Room 319, MSN 3E2

    Affiliations

    Departments

    Research Areas

    • Chemistry
    • Education Research

    Education

    • PhD, 2004, Inorganic Chemistry, University of Cincinnati
    • MS, 2002, Chemistry, University of Cincinnati
    • BA, 1998, Chemistry, with Honors in the Liberal Arts, with Distinction in Chemistry, The Ohio State University

    About

    Rebecca M. Jones earned a BA in chemistry from The Ohio State University, with honors in the liberal arts and with distinction in chemistry. She worked as an industrial chemist until matriculating to the University of Cincinnati, where she earned a MS and PhD in inorganic chemistry in 2004. She received tenure at Austin Peay State University and then relocated to George Mason University to begin OSCAR and Students as Scholars, Mason’s award-winning undergraduate research program. In this position, she created the Undergraduate Research Scholars Program and the Undergraduate Student Travel Fund, and organized the Celebration of Student Scholarship from 2012-2015.

    Returning to the faculty in 2015, she is now Full Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the STEM Accelerator, where she regularly teaches general and inorganic chemistry and works to improve outcomes for STEM students. Her research interests include improving STEM education, photographic chemistry, and faculty mentoring and student development related to undergraduate research experiences.

    She is an active member of the American Chemical Society, the president of Mason’s chapter of Sigma Xi, and an elected chemistry councilor on the Council on Undergraduate Research (since 2016). She has served the College of Science as a faculty senator (2016-2019), Secretary of the faculty (2017-2020), Chair of the faculty (2020-2023), and coordinator of the COS Undergraduate Research Colloquium (since 2015).

    Current Research

    Chemistry education, undergraduate research, mentoring, STEM education, STEM retention and recruitment, alternative photographic processes.

    Teaching Focus

    • General Chemistry 
    • General Chemistry for Engineers
    • Inorganic Chemistry
    • Bioinorganic Chemistry
    • Senior Seminar

    Selected Publications

    Journal Articles

    • "Exploring the Concept of Valence and the Nature of Science via Generative Artificial Intelligence and General Chemistry Textbooks", Rebecca M. Jones, Eva-Maria Rudler, and Conner Preston, Journal of Chemical Education 2024 101 (8), 3276-3283, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00271
    • "Pursuing retention and success of rural and diverse STEM students: A qualitative investigation of a program ecosystem and undergraduate participants", Rebecca M. Jones and Mary K. Emenike, Journal of STEM Education: Innovations and Research, Vol. 25 No. 1, 2024, https://www.jstem.org/jstem/index.php/JSTEM/issue/view/163
    • “The unexpected emotional cost of teaching chemistry in a pandemic”,  Rebecca M, Jones, 
      Frontiers in Education, STEM Education Section, Vol. 8, March 16, 2023, doi: 10.3389/feduc.2023.1120385, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2023.1120385/full 
    • “Encouraging or Obstructing? Assessing Factors that Impact Faculty Engagement in Undergraduate Research Mentoring”, Shannon N. Davis, Rebecca M. Jones, Duhita Mahatmya, Pamela Garner, Frontiers in Education, Educational Psychology Section, Vol. 5, July 17, 2020. doi:10.3389/feduc.2020.00114
    • “The Genesis, Evolution, and Influence of Undergraduate Research Mentoring Relationships”, Shannon N. Davis and Rebecca M. Jones, International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Vol. 14: No. 1, Article 6, May 31, 2020, doi:10.20429/ijsotl.2020.140106
    • “The role of perceived support and local culture in undergraduate research mentoring by underrepresented minority faculty members: findings from a multi-institutional research collaboration”, Shannon N. Davis, Pamela W. Garner, Rebecca M. Jones & Duhita Mahatmya, Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 2020, 28:2, 176-188, doi: 10.1080/13611267.2020.1749347 
    • “Recruiting and Enrolling Rural Students: A Model for Increasing Diversity in STEM”, Rebecca M. Jones and Rachel Cleaver, Innovative Higher Education, 2020, 45(3) doi: 10.1007/s10755-020-09499-6
    • “The Chemistry of Mordançage, a Historic Photographic Process”, Caroline Fudala and Rebecca Jones, Analytical Chemistry, 2019, 91(22), 14482-14488, doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.9b03205

    Books 

    • Advances in Teaching Inorganic Chemistry Volume 1: Classroom Innovations and Faculty Development; Jones, R. M., Ed.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington DC, 2020; Vol. 1370. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2020-1370.fw001.
    • Advances in Teaching Inorganic Chemistry Volume 2: Laboratory Enrichment and Faculty Community; Jones, R. M., Ed.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington DC, 2020; Vol. 1371. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2020-1371.fw001.
    • Best Practices for Supporting and Expanding Undergraduate Research in Chemistry; Gourley, B. L., Jones, R. M., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018; Vol. 1275. https://doi.org/10.1021/bk-2018-1275.pr001.

    Electronic Learning Objects and Database Entries

    Awards

    • 2024 Teaching Excellence Award Winner, with emphasis on Mason Core, George Mason University
    • 2022: College of Science Dean's Impact Award 
    • 2022: Preparing Chemists for the Future Award 
    • 2016-2023: Principal Investigator, “The RADSS program (Rural and Diverse Student Scholars)”, NSF S-STEM, NSF Award #1564989, April 1, 2016 - March 31, 2021, $643,925.00, (https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1564989)
    • 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022: Teaching Excellence Award Nominee, George Mason University
    • 2016: Honored professor at Mason Women’s Volleyball Faculty Appreciation Night

    Understanding a historic photographic process

    Dr. Rebecca Jones and Caroline Fudala (BS Biochemistry, 2019) unveiled the mysterious chemistry behind the mordanҫage process. In 2019, they published their work in the ACS journal Analytical Chemistry.

    MordancageRMJ

    Contact Info

    Dr. Rebecca M. Jones
    Name
    Dr. Rebecca M. Jones
    Preferred Pronouns
    she/her/hers
    Job Title
    Professor
    Interim Director, STEM Accelerator
    Website
    Personal Website
    Phone Number
    703-993-1084
    Office Number
    Planetary Hall, Room 319, MSN 3E2

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