REU Site: The TIM Consortium: A Dispersed REU Site in Theoretically Interesting Molecules

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This award funded by the Division of Chemistry Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Sites Program supports a dispersed REU site led by Professor K. C. Russell at Northern Kentucky University. The site also includes senior researchers and their undergraduate students at Grand Valley State University, the University of Richmond, the University of San Diego, and Colby College. Research projects supported in this site are focused on the study of "theoretically interesting molecules" in the fields of synthetic organic, physical organic, organometallic, and materials chemistry. The REU site supports eleven undergraduate research students per summer in a ten-week program. Broader impacts are addressed through the recruitment of students from local two-year colleges and from four-year institutions that lack significant opportunities for undergraduate research. The site seeks to prepare the diverse student cohort participating for further study in the chemical sciences and graduate school, with eventual employment as part of the country's technical workforce.Undergraduate research projects include: (1) the exploration of calcium-catalyzed addition reactions (Prof. Kristine Nolin, University of Richmond); (2) the synthesis and characterization of novel [12]- and [14]-annulenes (Prof. K. C. Russell, Northern Kentucky University); (3) the synthesis and evaluation of extraction agents for Ln-Ln and Ln-An separations (Shannon Biros, Grand Valley State University); (4) the synthesis of self-assembled architectures from end-functionalized polysaccharides (Prof. Peter Iovine, University of San Diego); and (5) the synthesis of rigid oxacalixarene scaffolds (Prof. Jeffrey Katz, Colby College). In addition to research activities, the student participants take part in an integrated ethics curriculum that includes training modules and case studies based on current events within the scientific community.