Skip to main content

Dr. Shizuka Hsieh

Associate Professor of Chemistry

202-884-9299
hsiehs@trinitydc.edu

Programs

Courses Taught

CHEM 111 Fundamentals of Chemistry I
CHEM 112 Fundamentals of Chemistry II
CHEM 113 Chemistry for the Health Sciences
CHEM 341 IS: Physical Chemistry I
CHEM 350/351 Forensic Instrumental Analysis Lab
ENVS 101 Discovering Planet Earth
ENVS 281 Environmental Pollution
NSCM 499 Divisional Seminar

Education

  • B.A., Chemistry, Carleton College
  • Ph.D., Physical Chemistry, University of Oxford (UK)

Interests

  • Environmental justice, air quality monitoring in DC for neighborhoods with disproportionate burdens of pollution
  • Community-based participatory research
  • Atmospheric chemistry
  • Environmental chemistry

Awards

  • Henry Dreyfus Teacher Scholar Award
  • Sherrerd Teaching Award (Smith College)
  • British Marshall Scholarship
  • NSF Graduate Fellowship
  • AAAS Science and Technology Fellow
  • Phi Beta Kappa

Select Works Published

  • Paper Presentation: Partnership for Social Justice in a Neighborhood at a Nexus of Development in Washington, DC: Residents in the Midst of Cement Plants, Construction, an Electrical Power Substation, and a Major Roadway
    Shizuka Hsieh (Trinity ) Rhonda Hamilton (ANC Commissioner), Alisha Camacho (Near Buzzard Point Resilient Action Committee), Elgloria Harrison(UDC), American Geophysical Union, 2018
  • Paper Presentation: Monitoring Concentrations of PM2.5 and Black Carbon in a Neighborhood in Washington, DC: When Using Citywide Averages for Environmental Assessment Underestimates Impacts in a Community
    Shizuka Hsieh (Trinity) Amanda Northcross (GWU), Ebony Roper (Howard), Parisa Norouzi (Empower DC), Russ Dickerson (UMD), Sacoby Wilson (UMD), Vernon Morris (Howard), American Geophysical Union, 2018
  • “Intramolecular hydrogen-bonding effects on O-H stretch overtone excitation for fluorinated hydroperoxides”
    Hsieh, Z, Mostafavi, M., and Taylor, A., Chemical Physics, 2017
  • "Trends in organic hydroperoxide photodissociation and absorption cross sections between 266 and 377nm"
    S. Hsieh, R. Vushe*, Y.T. Tun*, J. L. Vallejo*,, Chemical Physics Letters, 2014
  • "Macondo crude oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disrupts specific developmental processes during zebrafish embryogenesis"
    T. Yvanka de Soysa, A. Ulrich, T. Friedrich, D. Pite*, S.L. Compton, D. Ok, R.L. Bernardos, G.B. Downes, S. Hsieh, R. Stein, M.C. Lagdameo, K. Halvorsen, M.J.F. Barresi,, BMC Biology, 2012
  • "O-H stretch overtone excitation of ethyl hydroperoxide conformers"
    S. Hsieh, T. Thida*, M.K. Nyamumbo*, K.A. Smith*, N. Naamad*, R.G. Linck, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 2011
  • "Vibrational-torsional excitation and direct overtone photodissociation of ethyl hydroperoxide at 5vOH"
    K.D. Closser*, K.M. Vogelhuber*, and S. Hsieh,, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 2008
  • "Effects of torsion on O-H stretch overtone spectra and direct overtone photolysis of methyl hydroperoxide"
    L.M. Haynes*, K.M. Vogelhuber*, J.L. Pippen* and S. Hsieh,, Journal of Chemical Physics, 2005

Philosophy

My goal is to empower students with tools that will help them become agents of positive change in the world. My students practice applying chemistry concepts, using laboratory skills, and exercising quantitative analysis in the classroom and in the laboratory, often as undergraduate researchers. Beyond chemistry, my hope is that they also develop critical thinking, strengthen communication skills, build confidence, and see how science can be part of the solution.