The Department of Chemistry of the University of New Mexico is supported by the Chemistry Division and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities of the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences under the "Research Sites for Educators in Chemistry" program. The grant is designed to increase participation in chemical research by undergraduates enrolled in two and four-year colleges in the New Mexico area. Since a large fraction of New Mexico students start post-secondary education at community colleges, the program will focus on two-year institutions. Dr. G. Dana Brabson is the Principal Investigator, and there are five co-Principal Investigators. The program will facilitate cooperative interactions between undergraduate chemistry faculty in two and four-year colleges in the New Mexico region and research groups in the University of New Mexico and at Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories. One-semester sabbatical visits and summer research opportunities for faculty of two and four-year colleges and limited numbers of undergraduate student internships will be supported. Additional methods of increasing research activity at participating colleges will be developed and applied.
Research Sites for Educators in Chemistry (RSEC) bring together the faculty of participating two-year colleges, baccalaureate colleges, and master's universities with faculty at research universities within a geographic region to enhance the research and educational opportunities at all participating institutions. Academic and research institutions provide abundant opportunities where individuals may concurrently assume responsibilities as researchers, educators, and students, and where all can engage in joint efforts that infuse education with the excitement of discovery and enrich research through the diversity of learner perspectives. RSECs such as this one at the University of New Mexico provide mechanisms for disseminating the knowledge, skills, practices and ethics of research to a broader community, including those from underrepresented groups; assist in developing viable, sustainable research programs at participating institutions; and involve faculty and students at the participating institutions with a broader cross-section of faculty and students.
