This Phase I CCI will place chemistry at the center of research efforts to describe the molecular composition of the universe. The Center for Chemistry of the Universe will assemble a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary group of researchers to investigate and understand chemical processes in the interstellar medium. The chemistry occurring under the unique conditions of the interstellar medium produces the initial molecular starting materials for solar system formation. This chemistry, which produces a surprisingly rich set of common organic molecules along with more exotic reactive species, also supplies the molecules in meteorites and comets that may deliver the building blocks of life to young planets. Understanding this chemistry will require the development of high-speed broadband mm-wave spectrophotometers for chemical identification as well as new methods to probe chemical reactivity in cold gases and on surfaces.
The Center will establish connections between fields such as combustion chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, and materials processing that share the theme of "chemistry under extreme conditions." The Center will provide a team-oriented, collaborative and multidisciplinary research environment for graduate student and postdoctoral researchers. Synergistic center activities capitalize on the broad appeal of the space sciences and include a summer undergraduate research program, a university-level general science course, new web materials for the general public and display materials for out-of-school time programs in science centers and museums.
The Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program supports research centers that can address major, long-term fundamental chemical research challenges that have a high probability of both producing transformative research and leading to innovation. These Centers will attract broad scientific and public interest.
The Center for Chemistry of the Universe (CCU) brought together scientists from the fields of chemistry and astronomy to explore new research and technology opportunities emerging from next-generation radio astronomy observatories like the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. Radio astronomy makes it possible to identify molecules in astronomical environments through their rotational spectroscopy signatures and, therefore, provides an interdisciplinary connection between chemistry and astronomy. The new radio astronomy observatories have unprecedented capabilities for making high-resolution images of important astronomical environments like those where stars and planets are forming. For the first time, chemists will be able to map the distribution of molecules in these environments to understand how chemistry emerges in the universe and to explore how the evolution of this chemistry towards complex organic molecules, the molecules essential to life, tracks the formation of new planets. Because these astronomical environments have drastically different conditions than terrestrial, these new observations also provide chemists a way to explore novel chemical reaction mechanisms that broaden our understanding of chemical bond formation. The basic research program of the CCU developed new tools for laboratory spectroscopy that will allow chemists to keep up the with the enormous data rates that the new observatories are just now generating. By the end of 2013 there will be more radio astronomy observational data containing information about the chemical composition of the universe than was generated in the first 40 years of the field. The CCU research team also pioneered new ways to analyze the high-resolution chemical images of astronomical environments that focused on extracting information about the chemical processes in star and planet forming regions. The CCU research effort also developed experimental physical chemistry techniques designed to study the production of molecules under the unusual conditions of interstellar space. A focus of this work was the extension of surface science technology to study reactions in ices. The impressive capabilities of the next-generation radio astronomy observatories come from advances in solid-state devices for measuring terahertz (THz) radiation and high-speed digital electronics. The CCU team led a commercialization program to bring the technology of radio astronomy to the field of analytical chemistry by developing a new measurement technology for trace gas detection. Trace gas detection is an essential need in modern society and industry and impacts areas such as medical diagnostic tests, food safety, environmental monitoring, and national security. CCU research produced two patents for new instrument designs and this work continues with the founding of a new company, BrightSpec, to commercialize this work. The public outreach program of the CCU was a significant component of the overall program. The goal of this group was to use the appeal of space sciences to introduce the public to fundamental concepts of chemistry. The CCU worked with several general science to create feature articles about the role of chemistry in the formation of new planets and, possibly, for seeding these planets with the necessary ingredients for life. The CCU work is continuing through a subsequent National Science Foundation (NSF) award to fund a CCU-designed project that will create a traveling public museum display that highlights the connection between chemistry and astronomy. The CCU also hosted a summer undergraduate research program in collaboration with the VA-NC Alliance for Minority Participation (an NSF LSAMP program). This program provided summer research opportunities to early career undergraduate students at member schools of the VA-NC Alliance. The program provided opportunities for developing skills needed for majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields and also provided career guidance. More than 20 students participated in this program over the past three years.
