Dr. Sarah Pierce is the program director of the Biochemistry and Chemistry program.  She received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and her Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University.  Her postdoctoral work focused on breast cancer research with the Biomedical Engineering Department at Vanderbilt University. She began at Cumberland University in the Fall of 2008.  She teaches the Fundamentals of Chemistry, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Chemistry in Art, and Chemistry Senior Seminar. Dr. Pierce is passionate about chemistry in art and includes many art based laboratory experiments in her classes.  Dr. Pierce serves on the Safety Committee, Academic Integrity Board, the Assessment Committee, and the Colloquium Committee. She is also the advisor for the Pre-professional Society.

Dr. Pierce focuses her research interests on analytical chemistry and chemical education.  Specifically, she is interested in the analysis of mixtures using visible spectroscopy.  Dr. Pierce has had several publications in various scientific journals and has made presentations at many chemistry conferences to discuss her education research. Recently, her research titled “Supplemental Learning in the Laboratory:  An Innovative Approach for Evaluating Knowledge and Method Transfer” was published in the Journal of Chemical Education.