The Department of Chemistry will acquire a CO2 laser, a UV-VIS spectrophotometer, a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer and a graphics workstation for use in the undergraduate laboratories. The focus of the project is an advanced elective, project-oriented laboratory to follow the required three-semester laboratory sequence for undergraduate chemistry majors at MIT. Students enrolled in this course will concentrate on one or two specific topics from a menu of available choices; they will be expected to devise their own experimental protocols, prepare detailed proposals before starting laboratory work, and present their results in the form of written reports and oral seminars, all under the guidance of faculty mentors and experienced teaching assistants. Projects are planned to appeal to a wide variety of student interests, including laser photochemistry and spectroscopy, protein chemistry, trace analysis of environmental contaminants, microelectrochemical devices, and advanced computational chemistry. Provisions will be made for disseminating the results of these projects to other interested chemistry departments.
