9350863 Bottomley The faculty in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry has been in the process of incorporating polymer chemistry into its undergraduate curriculum. Four curriculum changes are underway: (1) offering new courses in polymer chemistry; (2) creating a polymer option for chemistry majors; (3) incorporating lectures dealing with and experiments demonstrating the principles of polymer synthesis, characterization and processing into the undergraduate chemistry courses; (4) offering workshops in polymer chemistry to faculty in small colleges and universities in the Southeast. The focus of each lecture and the workshops is the relationship between molecular structure and the reactivity, properties and processing conditions of the polymer. The intent of each of the experiments which are being developed is to demonstrate real world applications of analytical techniques and how these analyses are used in the design of new materials with useful properties for specific applications. A new TGA-DSC-FTIR is now being used to provide students with experience in the synthesis, characterization and processing of polymers in the laboratory. ***
