CAREER: Dendritic Approach to Career-Development: Dendrimers, Multidisciplinary Courses, and Girl Scouts

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This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project, supported in the Analytical and Surface Chemistry Program, focuses on the spectrofluorometric study of chemistry involving novel macromolecular media, dendrimers. Dendrimers are highly-branched, three-dimensional polymers whose structures include cavity microvolumes which are being investigated for use in areas such as chemical separations and drug delivery. Professor Tucker and her students will use a variety of optical probes to study structure-function relationships in a systematically varying family of dendrimers proposed for use in separations applications. This CAREER project includes the development of a course entitled `Interviewing and Job Skills for Success in the Sciences`. Professor Tucker will also conduct weekend workshops for Girl Scouts entitled `The Magic of Chemistry`. There is a great deal of interest in the development of novel chemical compounds which effectively act to encapsulate other ions or molecules to transport them into and out of target systems. One such group of compounds is the dendrimers. Dendrimers are three-dimensional polymers which are being evaluated intensely for use in chemical separations and in drug delivery applications. Professor Tucker and her students will study the chemistry of dendrimers using optical spectroscopy to probe structure-function relationships. Graduate and undergraduate students will gain insights through a course devoted to interviewing and job skills in the scientific workplace. Girl Scouts will be exposed to the `The Magic of Chemistry` in an effort to bridge the science gender gap.