Use of Gas Chromatography/Electron Ionization Detection in an Innovative Lab-Oriented Curriculum

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This project focuses on the inclusion of a Hewlett-Packard GCD, a capillary gas chromatograph with an electron ionization detector, in a newly developed chemistry curriculum. The two guiding principles in developing this new curriculum are (1) courses should be discovery-based with students being actively engaged in scientific inquiry and (2) the boundaries which have traditionally separated the subdisciplines of chemistry should be removed. The new curriculum includes a 1-semester, discovery- based introductory course and is followed by intermediate and upper-level courses that continue to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of chemistry. The Hewlett-Packard GCD is a dual use instrument in that it may operate as a capillary GC or as a GC/MS. As such, this instrument will fill two important gaps in instrumentation and will be extensively used in four of the eight core courses required for the new chemistry major, as well as in advanced electives and in independent research projects. A significant number of majors from other disciplines also enroll in two of these four courses, extending the impact of the inclusion of this instrument in the new curriculum beyond the doors of the chemistry department.