This project is to enhance the learning of principles in chemistry, enable the learning of methods used in the local biotechnology industry, and support the developing Biotechnology Certificate program at Southwestern College (SWC) by including experimentation with modem laboratory instrumentation. As a result of departmental self-evaluation, a pressing need to improve of our laboratory instrumentation has been identified. The complete laboratory curriculum has been overhauled to accommodate creative applications of FTIR, GCMS, HPLC, and NMR techniques into the experiments. Additionally, the new laboratory experiments have been developed to emphasize methods employed in the biotechnology industry, as SWC is located in a region where the market is heavily dominated by this industry. Furthermore, collaborative student research projects are planned between the Biology and Chemistry departments to stimulate activities like those that occur in the biotechnology setting. Ultimately, the new chemistry curriculum, strengthened by the addition of the new instrumentation, will be part of a proposed Biotechnology Certificate program at SWC. Upon completion of the SWC chemistry curriculum, students bound for the primary four-year transfer institutions in the University of California and California State University systems will be well prepared for utilizing laboratory instrumentation at the level of sophistication found at those institutions. Moreover, those students studying to enter the biotechnology workforce as technicians, directly from SWC, will already have experience with the state-of-the-art techniques and instrumentation that they will encounter in the workplace, making them more competitive for employment.
