This award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE) with co-funding from the Division of Biological Infrastructure (DBI) supports the renewal of a successful Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at California State University Los Angeles (CSULA) for the summers of 2008-2010. The site will be directed by Scott Nickolaisen from the Department Chemistry and Biochemistry at CSULA. This program will provide ten undergraduate students with research experience for 10-weeks in the areas of analytical, inorganic, organic, physical, environmental, and biochemistry. The primary objective of this REU site is to provide a comprehensive research experience for community college students who have had little, if any, prior exposure to research activities. All students selected to participate in the program will be community college students who are in second year chemistry classes in public community colleges in the Los Angeles Basin. Optional workshops will be held through out the ten week program, that cover ethics, applying to graduate school, SciFinder scholar training, and training in reading scientific literature. A research symposium will be hosted by the CSULA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the completion of the program where each REU participant will present their research findings.
The REU site in Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University, Los Angeles hosted 10 community college students each summer from 2008 – 2010. The primary objective of this REU site is to provide a comprehensive research experience for community college students who have had little, if any, prior exposure to research activities with the aim of encouraging students from these groups to pursue careers in the chemical sciences. Student participants work alongside CSULA faculty and students conducting original research using state-of-the-art techniques and equipment. The purpose of targeting community college students is twofold: to reach students early in their academic careers to make them aware of and excite them about the possibility of engaging in chemical research as a career path, and to tap the vast population of students in the Los Angeles Basin who begin their college experience in a community college where they have minimal access to participate in research activities of any kind. Because of the diverse population within the Los Angeles Basin, a secondary focus of our site is to engage students in research from groups underrepresented in the sciences including African-American, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian/Pacific Island students. Of the 30 student participants during this period, 56.7% were Hispanic, 16.7% were African-American, and 6.7% were Pacific Islander. REU participants selected research projects from an array of topics including inorganic and organic synthesis, electron spin resonance spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, infrared and laser spectroscopy, enzyme kinetics, plant genetics, electrochemistry, organometallic photochemistry, protein assays, mass spectrometry, atmospheric chemistry, lipid biochemistry, environmental analysis, and electrophoresis. REU participants presented their research result to CSULA students, faculty, and administrator as well as community college faculty at a research symposium hosted by the CSULA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the end of each summer. Titles of research posters and REU student names follow: "Analysis of Polluted Waters and Sediments from the Ballona Creek Watershed: Ionic, Organic, and Heavy Metal Species" Wendy Reyes, Jasmyne Jackson, and Kehende Lang "Hydroxamate Derivatives of Enterobactin: The E. coli Siderophore" Lumbala Kabeya "The Synthesis of Group VB Metal Centered Lewis Acid Catalysts" Edit Matevosyan "Synthesis of Melphalan-Tempol Adduct" Annalee Sendis "The Effects of Oxidation and Reduction States of Glutathione in Glycine Activation of PEP Carboxylase" Priscilla Sugianto "Statistical Analysis of Cation-Pi Interactions in Protein Structures" Key Wu "Effect of Dietary Jojoba Oil and Cholesterol on Lecithin: Cholesterol Acyltransferase in New Zealand White Rabbits" Ron Calderon "Surface Topography & Potential Binding Sites for Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase" Jose Contreras "Analysis of t-Darrp Expression in Breast Cancer Cell Line SK-Br-3 Transfected with t-Darrp Expression Vector" Gohar Khachatryan "Building a Photochromic Calcium Chelator to Study Intracellular Communication" Matt Kowal "Adamantane Building Blocks for Construction of MRI Contrast Agents" Hadasa Reyes "Analysis of Heavy Metals in Sediment and Water Samples" Carlos Sanchez, Ilene Ramirez, and Christina Zabalza "cDNA Microarray Expression Analysis of Lipid Transfer Proteins in Arabidopsis thaliana" Cassandra Taylor "Analysis of Polluted Water and Sediment Samples using Ion Chromatography" Joan Torres and Maria Vasquez "Analysis of Water and Sediment Samples from Ballona Creek Watershed by Organic Extraction" Christian Bustillos, Henry Gonzales, Anthony Jones, Joan Ngwuta, and Rodney Pujada "Infrared Spectra of the i-Propoxy and i-Propyl Peroxy Radicals" Christian Bustillos and Joan Ngwuta "HPLC Separation and Electrochemical Detection of Monoamines in Long-Evans Rat Brain Extracts" Peter Chang "Dietary Jojoba Oil Increases the Rate of Cholesterol Esterification by Lecithin: Cholesterol Acyltransferase in Cholesterol-Fed Rabbits" Carol Gonzalez "Stable Isotopic Analysis of Ancient Biological Materials from San Nicolas Island" Matt Kowal "Temperature Effect on Glycine Activation of Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxilase" Mariah P. Rincon "Detection of Phosphorus Oxyanions in Termite Gut Extracts Using IC-MS" Maria Vazquez "Progress Towards the Synthesis of 1,3,5,7-Tetrakis(aminomethyl)adamantane" Margartia Vivanco Several REU participants from the Chemistry and Biochemistry site have been featured in the CSULA Public Affairs Office newsletter. The stories included biographies of the featured participants as well as descriptions of their research projects and way in which their research fits into broader societal concerns. These articles can be found at www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/spotlight/arcgive/2009/REU-students.php and www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/spotlight/arcgive/2010/REU-summer2010.php. The second article was also selected as a feature on NSF’s Science360 website and can be found at http://news.science360.gov/archives/20100818. The CSULA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry has hosted a REU site for more than 20 years. The broader impacts of the our REU site activities include an increase in the number of underrepresented students pursuing research careers in the chemical sciences. Surveys of former participants from the CSULA REU site indicate that all but one student have transferred to four year institutions to complete their undergraduate studies. Nearly 97 % of former participants have earned bachelor degrees, and over 60% have entered graduate programs in chemistry or biochemistry. About 90% of past participants have been from minority groups underrepresented in the physical sciences. This represents a significant contribution to the scientific workforce.
