Lisa Bonner, Ph.D., will help develop an organic chemistry exam that will be used nationwide. Photo by Penh Alicandro ’22
Associate Professor of Chemistry Lisa Bonner, Ph.D., is currently developing an organic chemistry exam that will be taken by students nationwide.
Bonner is working with the American Chemical Society, which externally accredits Eckerd’s chemistry and biochemistry degrees, to put together one of these exams for the third time. This year, she was invited to co-chair the Organic Chemistry Committee for the ACS Exams Institute.
“I’ve been writing exam questions since I was teaching in grad school,” Bonner says. “It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I wanted to be a teacher since I was a little kid.”
Years ago, Bonner connected with Jeffrey Raker, Ph.D., an associate professor of chemistry at the University of South Florida. Raker, now an associate with the ACS, helped Bonner get involved with the committee.
Photo by Angelique Herring ’19
Lisa Bonner, Ph.D., welcomes the Phi Beta Kappa inductees and their guests to the induction ceremony on May 14, 2026. Photo by Kaitlyn R. Willgohs ’21
“There’s not a lot of organic chemistry professors in the world. So, when you get a room full of them together—we’re a bunch of nerds,” Bonner says.
Writing one of these exams involves two to three years of work. The committee develops its workflow, dividing the work among themselves. The trial exam then goes out to students. This allows the exam writers to gather data on student scores and the difficulty level of individual questions. The 2023 exam that Bonner worked on was trialed at Eckerd. The exam she is working on now will be finalized in 2028.
When she took an organic chemistry course in college, she saw what path she wanted to follow. For Bonner, chemistry just makes sense. She appreciates that it’s everywhere around us.
“It’s in the food you eat, and it’s in the clothes that you wear, and the medicines you take,” Bonner says.
Bonner is working alongside Animesh Aditya, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at Kennesaw State University. Bonner and Aditya went to graduate school together at Purdue University. They’ve known each other for 22 years, she adds, so when they work together, they sometimes bicker like siblings.
Lisa Bonner (right) walks across campus with Emily Yeh, professor of geography at the University of Colorado Boulder. Photo by Penh Alicandro ’22
Her other colleagues teach at a range of institutions across the country. They teach at colleges, large and small. But they all teach organic chemistry. Bonner has enjoyed seeing how each professor teaches differently, from the textbooks they use to the class material they cover.
“The rewarding thing is meeting people and learning more about how you teach, from how other people teach,” Bonner says.
Her contribution with the ACS will become a final exam in classrooms across the country. On the front of the exam packet, the names of the committee members are printed. Students in Eckerd chemistry courses will see their own professor’s name on the front of their exam.
