Elizabeth Cerkez
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zekrec.bsky.social
Elizabeth Cerkez
@zekrec.bsky.social
990 followers 690 following 530 posts
Associate Professor of Instruction @ Temple U. Chemistry and Chemistry Education Research.

(Philly sports + Weather + Swiftie)
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zekrec.bsky.social
Caught them twice in NoLibs.
November 12, 2025 at 3:36 AM
zekrec.bsky.social
It’s back!
November 12, 2025 at 3:13 AM
zekrec.bsky.social
Could see the Northern Lights from my roof in Philly!!!
Nighttime photo of row home rooftops, the northern lights are visible as a band of green close to the roof and a broader band pink further form the horizon.
November 12, 2025 at 2:41 AM
zekrec.bsky.social
I finished the set! So pretty!!
Set of legos built to resemble crystalline forms of minerals.
October 3, 2025 at 10:19 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Need to get grading done. But my mineral Lego kit got delivered to work. What was I supposed to do, not build Lego pyrite?!? #ChemSky
Brown Lego square with a gold colored representation of pyrite sitting on top and a pink and green representation of watermelon tourmaline.
October 2, 2025 at 8:43 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Look at that, it’s an induced dipole!
#ChemSky
September 18, 2025 at 8:53 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Once I found out you could put text headers in the modules set up, I was much more on board because I could still structure what they looked at.
Screenshot of modules view on canvas with preview work and classwork.
August 1, 2025 at 9:09 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
When you go to start prepping Fall classes and the Title II accessibility checker tells you that all of your materials are failing. These are PDFs that all need to be regenerated.
Screenshot of Canvas dashboard with links to PDFs of Week 1 materials in a general chemistry class. Next to each link is a red sad face.
July 21, 2025 at 1:55 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Scientists everywhere reading this sentence 😳😳😳 “Centrifuges spinning out of control”
54 minutes ago David E. Sanger Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Monday that the power to the Natanz uranium enrichment center had been cut in Israeli strikes on Friday, a disruption that he said probably sent its centrifuges spinning out of control.
June 17, 2025 at 12:18 AM
zekrec.bsky.social
Used the new/old Franklin Square stop today!
Green and white subway tiles that say “Franklin Square.”
May 29, 2025 at 12:34 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Alright, this is an awesome experiment - complexation, solubility, indicator acid/base, it’s got everything!! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
May 14, 2025 at 8:26 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
It’s summer, must be new lab design time.
5 volumetric flasks and 5 cuvets. From left to right color shift from red to blue.
May 13, 2025 at 7:01 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Kermit (green frog muppet) is facing himself covered in a hood. The first Kermit has the words "Grade lab reports" while the hooded Kermit says "Start redesigning courses."
May 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
I'm a "chalk talk" lecturer but this seems to help....
Lecture notes showing the relationship between the reaction quotient Q and the equilibrium constant K. A number line is used to show when Q=0 and Q=infinity.
April 30, 2025 at 2:02 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
The Pop(e) Tart Bowl - sponsored by Kellogs
Picture of Pope Frances holding a picture of the pop tart mascot holding a sign saying "Dreams really do come true"
April 28, 2025 at 7:25 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Not a single item on the "Reasons for Action" fact sheet is about environmental protection 😫
Table from the Mercury and Air Tocix Standards (MATS) Fact Sheet Action • Reconsideration of the “National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units Review of the Residual Risk and Technology Review” (89 FR 38508; May 7, 2024). Reasons for Action • Concerns that the regulation may not be consistent with the authority granted under Clean Air Act. • The estimated costs to power plant owners and operators to comply with the revised amendments to MATS are large given the success the industry has already achieved in reducing emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants (HAP). • We are concerned that this rule creates undue burden on certain coal-fired power plants. • Industry believes that EPA underestimated the compliance costs of the rule and that there are no meaningful public health benefits to be gained from the rule’s mandated reduction in HAP emissions.
March 14, 2025 at 12:25 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
#StandUpForScience #ChemSky
White Poster that says “Time to React” around a drawn image of an Erlenmeyer flask with blue liquid and green bubbles. Two white posters signs: upper left says “ultraviolet catastrophe? More like a constitutional catastrophe” in black market. Lower right says “what do we want? Evidence based science. When do want it? After peer review.”
March 7, 2025 at 6:31 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
The simplicity of a Job Plot really is beautiful. #ChemSky
Drawing of a Job plot on a white board. The plot shows mole fraction on the x axis and absorbance on the y axis. There are data point which form a peak with a maximum at the mole fraction which indicates the stoichometry of the compound.
February 5, 2025 at 6:18 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
The rxn is driven with LED strips from Target! The before and after show that while the dark rxn (R) does occur (intensity has decreased some) it is not as fast!
Looking into a glass beaker with blue LEDs inside. You can just see the green glow of a vial inside. Top: two glass vials containing a pink dye that is slightly fluorescing green. Bottom: two glasses vials, the one of the left is slightly yellow while the one on the right is pink with a slight green fluorescence.
February 4, 2025 at 2:00 AM
zekrec.bsky.social
We're only in week 3 of this semester and it's not even two days anymore....we're at like 14 hours 🫠 #ChemSky
Meme. Forest Gump running through the US Southwest with a full beard and long hair (with the text "Me, teaching about material I definitely learned more than a decade ago, but re-taught myself two days ago"), followed by a large group of people (with the text "My Class".)
January 30, 2025 at 11:04 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Regina George (played by Rachel McAdams) in Mean Girls "So you agree" meme, with added text "using someone's work without their consent or attribution is wrong"
January 29, 2025 at 1:14 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
After leaving the below and now waiting for the bus in feels like temp of 17°C and the semester starts in three days. Rude.
Teal blue water on a beach, with blue skies with small clouds. There is straw umbrella in the foreground and a pier extending into the water.
January 10, 2025 at 2:39 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
Ta da! And even had enough time for pom poms ☺️
Three burgundy crocheted baby hats with navy blue Pom poms sitting on a light colored wood table.
December 25, 2024 at 9:15 PM
zekrec.bsky.social
I also made my first crocheted baby hat today. Will I be able to make 3 more by Cerkez Christmas tomorrow….we shall see.
A hand holding a maroon crocheted baby hat against a backdrop of a wooden floor
December 25, 2024 at 12:22 AM
zekrec.bsky.social
My snickerdoodles turned out so puffy this year 🤔
Snickerdoodles cookies cooling on parchment paper.
December 24, 2024 at 5:59 PM