9452049 Cassidy A thermal analysis system is providing students operational experience with this technique in several courses, thereby enhancing the contents of the courses and introducing state-of-the-art technology. These courses include Polymer Chemistry and Engineering, a new course in 1992, one not commonly available in undergraduate curricula, Physical Chemistry, and a new course in 1994 for SWT, a senior-level, integrated laboratory sequence. The first and third of these are somewhat unusual and a creative step to give undergraduates an opportunity for extensive laboratory work with modern equipment. Two modules are being used: Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC). Students are instructed on these instruments and then actually operate each of them instead of merely hearing lectures on them or observing their applications at regional laboratories. An additional challenge grant has been committed by a local industry to support the proposed special thermal analysis laboratory.
