Roberta Day received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, spent five years in the research laboratories of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, NY, and then received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After postdoctoral work sponsored by both the Damon Runyon Memorial Fund and the National Institutes of Health, she joined the faculty of the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, rising through the ranks to Full Professor in the Chemistry Department. She initiated the use of on-line electronic homework in general chemistry at UMass, is one of the inventors of the OWL system, has been either PI or Co-I for several major national grants for the development of OWL, and has authored a large percentage of the questions in the OWL database for General Chemistry. Recognition for her work includes the American Chemical Society Connecticut Valley Section Award for outstanding contributions to chemistry and the UMass College of Natural Science and Mathematics Outstanding Teacher Award. Her research in chemistry as an X-ray crystallographer has resulted in the publication of over 180 articles in professional journals. She is now a Professor Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and continues her work on the development of electronic learning environments for chemistry.
