This award involves a three-year collaborative arrangement between chemistry faculty with expertise in the area of solid phase extractions that focuses on international research experiences for their students. Professor Eric Conte, from Western Kentucky University, will engage in shared student research experiences with Professor Shing-Yi Suen of National Chung Hsing University in Taichung, Taiwan. The PI and his students will incorporate their work using surfactants on a solid particle phase with the work of Professor Suen and her students on membrane extractions to study the use of surfactants on membranes for extractions. Membranes offer the possibility of different extraction arrangements and potentially different sorbent properties compared to particles being used in the PIs laboratory. Membranes, unlike packed particles, do not suffer from channeling, wall effects, and dead volume effects. Also, compared with packed particles, membranes can operate under lower backpressures and higher flow through volumes. Two students from each institution will visit the campus of the foreign counterpart for eight-week summer research experiences. The US students will include one undergraduate and one Masters degree student each year.
