This award from the Chemistry Division supports the establishment of an Undergraduate Research Center (URC) as a collaborative effort involving the University of South Dakota, Augustana College, Mount Marty College, Dordt College, Buena Vista University, Sinte Gleska University and Fort Berthold Community College. The PI is Mary Berry with coPIs Krisma DeWitt, Gary Earl, Paul May and Andrew Sykes. This collaboration, called the Northern Plains Undergraduate Research Center (NPURC), has as its main objective, a regional transformation of the role of undergraduate research in chemical education into an integral part of the entire four years of the undergraduate curriculum, utilizing a "take research to the students" approach. As lead institution, the University of South Dakota will act as a hub for the collective activities of NPURC, and will facilitate the development of regional undergraduate research capacity and culture by 1) coordinating multi-institutional curricular reform to bring research experiences to large numbers of first-year students, 2) acting as a multi-user facility, providing access to major instrumentation, which may be lacking at the smaller institutions, 3) providing technical expertise and training for setting-up and using modern scientific equipment and methods, 4) sponsoring workshops on grant writing and identifying potential funding sources, 5) sponsoring symposia for faculty and student interactions, 6) providing continuing research and professional development opportunities for advanced undergraduates, as follow-up to participation in NPURC, through corporate, industrial, and government laboratories and international student exchange programs, and 7) building the foundation for early undergraduate research through high school teacher outreach and training programs. Research will be introduced into the second semester general chemistry laboratory at the partner institutions, impacting 250 students the first year, and increasing to 600 students/year. Students will be given the opportunity to enroll in summer research workshops the summer following their general chemistry research introduction. The workshops will prepare the students for more traditional mentoring-type research opportunities. Students will be encouraged to participate in research internships at industry, government laboratories and academic laboratories during their junior and senior years. The leadership and management plans provide for continuous input from all the participants. An external advisory board, with members from industrial, government and academic partners is in place with personnel that will contribute to the growth and quality of this program as it develops. Qualitative and quantitative tools will be employed to provide summative and formative evaluation of project goals. Krisma DeWitt from Mount Marty College will direct the assessment. The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities, Directorate of Mathematics and Physical Sciences co-fund this award.
