Jerzy Maselko of the University of Alaska - Anchorage is supported by a Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) award from the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry program with co-funding by the Office of International Science and Engineering to carry out research on complex precipitation structures which arise in various inorganic salt systems. The PI and his students have discovered a number of structures including some which mimic biological cells and other life forms. Experimental studies are being conducted on various silicate and carbonate structures that form in a flow system. A substantial international component to this project exists and includes visits by scientists from The University of Szeged in Hungary to Alaska. The Hungarian scientists, experts in modeling the interaction of chemical reaction with diffusion and buoyancy, are helping in the development of computational models of the precipitation processes to probe the underlying mechanism of the formation of these structures. U.S. students from Alaska, including Alaskan Native Americans, will, in turn, visit the Hungarian laboratory with the PI and participate in research in Central Europe. This work is having a broader impact through the investigation of basic chemical processes which may be involved in the origin of life, as well as through the inclusion of students from groups traditionally under-represented in science in an international scientific team.