This project will introduce faculty in the physical and life sciences who teach at four-year colleges to the use of computers in experimental work. The emphasis will be on learning how computers can be interfaced to instruments and experimental apparatus for the purposes of experimental control and data acquisition. The activity will involve both lecture and laboratory work over a four week period. After an introduction to fundamentals of digital electronics, signal conditioning, personal computer architecture, and programming, participants will produce a digital oscilloscope and interface personal computers to spectrometers and titration apparatus. Topics will include serial and parallel data transfer, analog sampling principles, and integrated circuit timers. After the instructional phase of the course, participants will select among a number of specific applications for further study. Included among these are examples of interfaces to spectrometers, a liquid chromatography application featuring computer- controlled valve manipulation, a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, an X-ray diffraction spectrometer, and two undergraduate chemistry experiments which use computers to improve the quality of the data being collected. The program is intended for faculty who wish to incorporate computer interfacing into their own teaching of experimental science. In addition to the NSF funds, participants' institutions will contribute about 5% in travel costs to the operation of the project.
