David Noble Harpp is a Canadian

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...

, science communicator and award-winning university teacher. He holds the Tomlinson Chair in Science Education at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

. Harpp published more than 230 chemistry articles in peer-reviewed publications, his main research interest being

organosulfur Organosulfur compounds are organic compounds that contain sulfur. They are often associated with foul odors, but many of the sweetest compounds known are organosulfur derivatives, e.g., saccharin. Nature abounds with organosulfur compounds—sulfur ...

and

selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and telluriu ...

molecules. In addition, 20 of his articles on teaching innovation were published. He was appointed as Tomlinson Chair in Science Education in 2013, with the mandate to "advance the understanding and practice of science education". With

Joseph Schwarcz Joseph A. Schwarcz (born 1947) is an author and a sessional instructor at McGill University. He is the director of McGill's Office for Science and Society. Early life Schwarcz is an only child, born in Sopron, Hungary to Jewish parents. During t ...

and Ariel Fenster, Harpp is a founding member of the

Office for Science and Society The Office for Science and Society (OSS) is an organization dedicated to science education, operating from Montreal's McGill University. Its staff and contributors use courses, mass media, special events and books to debunk pseudo-scientific my ...

. Harpp experimented throughout his teaching career with various visual media, from photographic slides to 8mm movies. With his colleagues at the Office for Science and Society, he pioneered the McGill COurses ONline initiative. A proponent of

massive open online course A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, ma ...

s, Harpp thinks students can benefit from having access these academic opportunities: "What if the best organic chemistry course, anywhere, was put on by somebody from, say, the University of Illinois, why shouldn’t we ssign it at our university" Harpp is also interested in academic integrity. He followed up on his research on the prevalence of cheating by university students by inventing (with others) a computer program that spots cheating in multiple-answer exams. Use of the software, with the introduction of multiple versions of each exam, is credited to practically eliminating this type of cheating at McGill's: "I think 90 per cent of the students who tend to cheat will

ook at all the obstacles Ook, OoK or OOK may refer to: * Ook Chung (born 1963), Korean-Canadian writer from Quebec * On-off keying, in radio technology * Toksook Bay Airport (IATA code OOK), in Alaska * Ook!, an esoteric programming language based on Brainfuck * Ook, the ...

and say, 'Nah.'" Harpp did his Bachelor of Arts at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

(1959), his Masters at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

(1962) and his Ph.D. at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sys ...

(1965).

Selected awards

References

Canadian chemists Canadian skeptics Living people Anglophone Quebec people McGill University faculty Science communicators Year of birth missing (living people) {{Canada-scientist-stub