URC Planning Grant for INSPIRE: Interstate Network of Science Programs Integrating Research and Education

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The award from the Chemistry Division supports an Undergraduate Research Centers (URC) planning grant. The PI is Lon J. Mathias assisted by co-PI Pollyanne Franz. This planning grant will initially connect the University of Southern Mississippi PIs with collaborators from St. Norbert College (Green Bay, WI) and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. These participants will host a workshop that will involve faculty from different types of institutions (high schools, community colleges, colleges and universities) and support groups such as the Alliance for Graduate Education in Mississippi (AGEM), and the Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation (MAMP). The workshop will formulate curriculum modification models that emphasize exposure to research in chemistry and polymer science appropriate to the students at the institutions that they serve. One goal is to modify an existing general chemistry inquiry based lecture course with a laboratory that is a project-oriented research experience. The planning grant will also foster development of resource and training materials to aid educators in implementing research activities; development of a high school junior-senior model for initiating pre-college research experiences; and development of plans for an Internet-access shared instrumentation program for students to carry out experiments in real time. The project will develop a physical and virtual center with modules that all educators can use to implement course changes (that increase exposure to research for science and non-science majors alike) and offer new research projects at all levels.