Carmen Valdez Gauthier earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of New Hampshire; she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. At the present time, Dr. Gauthier is the Chair of the Chemistry and Physics Department at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Her general area of research is in the field of supermolecular chemistry and she has presented scholarly papers internationally on various aspects of her research. Dr. Gauthier has taught in a college preparatory school, a community college and liberal arts colleges. The majority of her higher education career has taken place in predominantly undergraduate institutions. She has served as a faculty member, earning tenure and full professor status, as a department chair, director of the Honors Program, and faculty representative to the New England Board of Higher Education. Dr. Gauthier has facilitated the development of teacher training programs, faculty development through grants from the Flinn Scientific Foundation, local foundations and the American Chemical Society to name just a few. Dr. Gauthier serves on the International Activities Committee and the Committee on Membership Affairs of the American Chemical Society, and is the past-chair for the Florida Section of the American Chemical Society. She is a member of the International Center for Undergraduate Chemistry, the Peruvian Chemical Society, the National Science Teacher Association, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Sigma Epsilon Chemistry Honors Society, Phi Eta Sigma Freshman Honor Society, and Delta Kappa Gamma Society International. Ph.D., Chemistry, University of New Hampshire B.Sc., Chemistry, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru

Dr. Gauthier’s research project has been focused on the synthesis and characterization of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). MOFs are a class of coordination polymers constructed by metal ions and multi-dentate organic ligands with one-, two, or three-dimensional crystalline structures. Most recently, she has explored the synthesis of cyclic imides using the Cocrystal Controlled Solid-State Synthesis (C3S3) approach. students in her research group gain experience in multinuclear NMR, IR, microwave reactor synthesis and x-ray diffraction. She has mentored over eighteen students at FSC. All her students have presented their research at the ACS National Meeting, ACS Regional Meeting and the Florida Annual Meeting and Exposition.

“Poly(methylmethacrylate) composites of copper-4, 4’-trimethylenedipyridine”, Shisi Liu, Lukasz Wojtas, Justin Massing, Carmen Valdez Gauthier, Julie P. Harmon, New J. Chem., 2012, 36, 1449-1456. Spattering of hot cooking oil with water, G Pinto, C.V. Gauthier, J. Chem. Educ., 2009, 86 (11), 1281-1285. Some consideration regarding the active learning in chemistry, G Pinto, C.V. Gauthier, P. Kelter, G. Weaver, Chem. Educator [online], 2008; DOI 10.1333/s00897082130a.