Dr. Lynn C. Francesconi, Chemistry Department, CUNY Hunter College, is supported by the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division under a Faculty Early Career Advancement Award to prepare technetium oxide molecules and to pursue a five pronged program to improve the educational experiences offered at Hunter College. In the research component technicium will be incorported into cage polyoxoanion structures of tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, and phosphorus. In the educational component outside institutional research collaborations will be established and the supervision of undergraduate research students will be delegated to graduate students in order the improve the relevance and vitality of the graduate training. At the undergraduate level increased laboratory participation will be accomplished by a redesign of the courses and the undergraduate research experience, communication and student involvement will be increased in the freshman course through the institution of a workshop approach, and a new inorganic chemistry lecture course will be devised. Technecium is used as an imaging agent in medicine and occurs as a component in radioactive wastes. This research will produce new compounds which may be valuable both in the imaging application and point the way to substances which can efficiently remove technecium from water solutions. The educational efforts will improve the teaching program at Hunter College, particularly as it relates to minority students.
