This award will provide funds to purchase equipment to upgrade the undergraduate biochemistry laboratory in the Biology Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The equipment will greatly improve the advanced laboratory in biochemistry, usually taken in the junior year. It will also allow establishment of an introductory honors laboratory stressing biochemical methods to be taken the previous year; with proper scheduling, much of the equipment can be used in both courses. The upgraded biochemistry laboratory experience will improve training, expose students to experimental science in a positive setting at a time in which they are making key career decisions, and better prepare them for other laboratory courses (advanced molecular biology laboratory, undergraduate research) which usually depends on the biochemistry laboratory for preliminary training. The grantee institution is matching this NSF award with funds from non-Federal sources.
