This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This project will renovate three science laboratories in the Mandell Science Building on the Delaware Valley College campus to provide an Integrated Multidisciplinary Science Education and Research Facility. The new facility will provide modern research and research training space for the chemistry and biology departments as well as provide a laboratory dedicated to interdisciplinary science that will involve several of the College's other science departments. The project will support student research projects that will be undertaken in the new Student Research course, which is designed to provide meaningful research experiences for the College's primarily undergraduate student population and complement the existing Employment Program internships.
The three laboratories will be renovated to include new casework, flooring, lighting, plumbing, fume hoods, and safety equipment along with updated computer connectivity. The chemistry and biology departments will each occupy a renovated laboratory in the facility to use for discipline-focused research and for incubation of interdisciplinary research that will then be allocated dedicated research space in the interdisciplinary research laboratory. The chemistry and biology labs will also support research training of undergraduates, many of whom will pursue their research ideas further in the Student Research course with a faculty advisor. The facility will enable an array of opportunities for the faculty and students to collaborate on research questions including studies of organic electronic materials, model-based design and synthesis of oligionucleotides for nanoscale circuits, mechanisms of biomass accumulation in plants, and the phylogeny of Protura and how they are related to other soil arthropod groups.
The renovated laboratories will significantly improve the quality of and access to undergraduate research opportunities at Delaware Valley College. Students conducting research in the facility will be better prepared to make the transition to graduate schools or to employment in research-related jobs. The region's biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and chemical industries already rely on the College for some of their technology workforce. The project will provide the science faculty members with the opportunity to expand their research activities and thus simulate more student interest in the sciences in general. Because of the demographics of the College's student body, nearly two-thirds of those students impacted will be women.
National Science Foundation Academic Research Infrastructure – Recovery and Reinvestment Program Award Number 0963297 Benjamin E. Rusiloski, Ph.D., Principal Investigator December 19, 2012 The Academic Research Infrastructure – Recovery and Reinvestment grant from the National Science Foundation of $707,569 was sought to renovate three laboratories (one biology, one chemistry, and one multidisciplinary) in the Mandell Science Building to create the Integrated Multidisciplinary Science Education and Research Facility where research, research training, and inquiry-based instruction would be concentrated. All three renovated laboratories are now used exclusively for discipline-specific research, multidisciplinary research, research training, and inquiry-based instruction. The Integrated Multidisciplinary Science Education and Research Facility has enabled the college to make a break-through in (a) integrating traditional science education programs with research, and in (b) offering expanded and enhanced research opportunities across disciplines. Overall, the objectives of the facility are: To expand student exposure and understanding of the research and inquiry-based instruction To deepen student understanding of interdisciplinary inquiry To expand the number of research projects conducted by students To continue to develop faculty capabilities and experiences in applied research. The configurations of the laboratories had not been conducive to achieving these objectives. The laboratories were generally configured for teaching, not research. Specifically, the science requirements for the renovated laboratories included the following: Sufficient workspace for project-based inquiry and student research including an ability to store in-process research projects with a minimal amount of break-down and set up. Configuration that permits team projects and interaction among teams Technology that will enable team and group discussion and sharing of findings. This includes smart boards and digital visual presenters Up-to-date physical connections Fixed equipment such as fume hoods, a Laminar flow hood, an incubator, and a growth chamber The now completed facility enables approximately 550 students annually to conduct faculty-mentored research projects and inquiry-based investigations. This expanded exposure and understanding of the research method will encourage more students to consider careers and/or further education in the sciences. Work that has taken place in the facility to date has resulted in two publications, four pending publications, seven conference presentations, and a provisional patent, as well as the creation and implementation of numerous inquiry-based investigations.
