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Research Opportunities
Why would an undergraduate want to do research?
What kinds of research exist in Chemistry at Briar Cliff?
What kind of financial support is available for student
research in the Chemistry Department and what are some examples of
successful student researchers?
1. Why would an undergraduate want to do research?
It’s fun! Working on a new project in an area which nobody
has explored this way before is intriguing. Sometimes the work doesn’t go
smoothly - that can almost be guaranteed. But the sense of accomplishment is
well worth the effort. As you are challenged to face problems in new,
creative ways, your intellectual abilities are broadened and deepened. By
the time you finish you should have a good idea of whether you would like to
pursue more research in graduate school and/or as a career. Even if you
decide research is not for you, you have had the experience of research
which gives you a real sense of what doing science is all about.
As to your future career, students who list research experiences (and
publications!) on their applications usually have a better success of
entering desired programs, such as graduate school in chemistry, and
receiving increased support in these programs (graduate fellowships).
2. What kinds of research exist in Chemistry at Briar
Cliff?
Dr. Weber's research interests lie in the bioanalytical
applications of capillary electrophoresis (CE). CE is a separation
technique, with its high resolving power and low sample consumption, has
been applied by many researchers to biological samples.
One such system that Dr. Weber is interested in using CE to study its
biological components occurs in the eye. Certain tryptophan metabolites
along the kynurenine pathway are reported as being central in maintaining a
healthy eye while others may promote damage. Thus, there is a need for
sensitive and selective analytical methods for their study. Students worked
on the development of CE methods, including preparation and characterization
of certain metabolites and determination of CE separation parameters of
metabolites from lens matrix components. Also evaluated were the efficiency
of a lens-protein precipitation technique, the effect of residual protein on
CE performance, and pre-concentration as a method to increase sensitivity.
Amy Muller, a chemistry major who graduated in May of 2000, presented her
research on this project as a poster at a national ACS chemistry meeting.
Most recently, he is focusing on the use of CE to detect selectively amino
acid metabolites of medical interest with sensitivity. For example,
xanthurenic acid can be selectively derivatized and detected by CE with UV-vis
detection.
Dr. Ted Bryan, the other member of the department is an inorganic chemist
with research projects which pull from many of the major branches of
chemistry. His broad area of research is ruthenium metal complexes. He is
interested in synthesizing and using compounds of the general formula [Ru(LLL)(LL)(SOx)]n+
to model the formation of acid-rain in the atmosphere. As part of these
projects, he would like to be able to perform theoretical calculations on
these molecules to identify possible transition states and do energy
minimization calculations. Furthermore, because the oxidation of sulfur is
dependent on the electronic environment of the metal, he would like to be
able to characterize these complexes via cyclic voltammetry.
3. What kind of financial support is available for student research in the
Chemistry Department and what are some examples of successful student
researchers?
The Department has the "Kathy Damme
Endowment for Student Research" which provides approximately $3,000 for
research in chemistry at Briar Cliff. The money is used primarily to provide
a stipend to the student for time spent on his/her research activity.
An example of a student who has benefited by the experience is Steve Palmer.
Steve graduated with a Master's degree from the graduate program in the
Chemistry Department at the University of Illinois. He conducted research
while at Briar Cliff, being supported by the Kathy Damme Endowment. As part
of his final research report he was asked him to discuss what he learned
about the experience of doing research - positives and negatives. Steve’s
description speaks vividly to the essence of the experience:
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I learned a great deal by participating in this research last summer. Of course I learned a lot of new information about CZE and tryptophan metabolites, but the most important thing I
gained was the experience of doing research. I found out that research did not just involve "doing the chemistry." There is a lot of other type of work such as developing and building instrumentation. There is also a need to develop new methods to solve problems. There was really nothing negative about the research experience in itself. I found out the research does not always go smoothly and does not always work out. This was frustrating and negative at the time. However, at the same time I learned how to work out problems and take new approaches to find the answers to different problems. I also found that research can be very exciting when things do go right. At the time when all the work was going well, I found myself really wanting to keep working. In general, I discovered that research can be both exciting and tormenting. Overall I really enjoyed the research, even though it did not go smoothly all the time. |
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