This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This proposal requests funds to renovate existing research space in the research facilities for the Department of Biochemistry, Chemistry and Physics at the University of Central Missouri (UCM). In addition, a new Center for Alternative Fuels and Environmental Systems (CAFES) has emerged from the Department to better serve the scientific needs of central Missouri communities. The CAFES is currently facilitating projects on alternative energy production, environmental issues and analytical support. The renovated space will improve the conditions for many different research groups. Work in the renovated facility will include the synthesis of azzaromatic N-oxides, computational and synthetic studies of thiacyclooctatetrenophanes, arsenic and selenium binding studies specific to natural organic matter functional groups, alternative energy projects such as biologic aerobic and anaerobic digestion, fuel formulations, synthetic biodiesel modifications and development of new analytical methods for fuel typing. Undergraduate researchers in the department and CAFES will monitor nutrient and micronutrient concentrations in soil and runoff water during the production of biomass. Biochemical research projects that will be housed in the renovated space will include investigations of nucleic acids that can form triple helices, which will be categorized as either intermolecular or intramolecular complexes.
The renovated facility will support training programs for undergraduate research students and will allow the department to expand K-12 outreach programs including the ACS-SEED program to provide opportunities to underrepresented groups. CAFES as part of the Department of Chemistry will facilitate external collaborators from throughout the region. The program will also use the facility and the CAFES to reach out to external collaborators, which may include researchers in small colleges, universities, small businesses, industry, and government agencies.
that created 2400 ft2 of laboratory research space for undergraduate chemistry students pursuing undergraduate research projects with department faculty. Potentially dangerous building materials from the original 1967 construction, such as asbestos containing floor tiles and countertops were removed. Room ventilation, fire safety, egress, and security improvements make this new laboratory one of the safest rooms on campus. The space was designed to facilitate collaborative work of students and mentors (professors). Twelve students, including eight females and minorities, have been actively engaged in the high-impact learning opportunities that resulted from the new research space. Students are studying the effects of coal fly ash on the environment, the synthesis and characterization of protected amino acid monomers for peptide synthesis applications, an electrochemical apparatus for obtaining fundamental electrochemical data on fuel cells, batteries and in corrosion studies, the current/voltage behavior of novel electro-catalytic materials for new generation of microbial fuel cells, nano-particulate transition metal oxides for use in a microbial fuel cell, the synthesis and characterization of organic molecules, physical chemistry pedagogy including single-slit diffraction and its relationship to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and the binding orientation of DNA triple helix forming oligonucleotides. The students presented their findings at meetings and conferences in the region and nationally, at the Spring 2013 ACS meeting.
