Enhancing Chemistry and Biochemistry Education with Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry

该项目包括获得气相色谱-质谱计（GC-MS），为所有学生提供在工业和研究生院研究实验室使用的中央仪器的实践经验。它还包括教学和课件的开发，使学生参与解决问题和开发方法。该项目允许学生研究熟悉的材料，如香水，并接触到一些分析和质谱解释的策略。高年级学生也在解决问题和发展新的分析方法。例如，在仪器分析课程中，学生在开发分析水稻和玉米真菌毒素的方法时，要处理复杂矩阵中的真实样品。在生物学课程中，学生们正在描述与植物对病原体的抗性机制有关的小蛋白质分子。该项目旨在培养大学生进入现代仪器实验室的能力和信心，提高学生对化学的热情和兴趣。

The project involves acquisition of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) to provide all students hands-on experience with a central instrument used in industrial and graduate school research laboratories. It also involves development of instruction and courseware to engage students in problem solving and methods development. The project is allowing students to investigate familiar materials, such as perfumes, and be exposed to some of the strategies of analysis and mass spectral interpretation. Upper-level students are also solving problems and developing new methods of analysis. For example, in the Instrumental Analysis course, students are handling real-world samples in complex matrices as they develop methods for analysis of mycotoxins in rice and corn. In biology courses, students are characterizing small protein molecules that have been implicated in mechanisms of resistance of plants to pathogens. The project is preparing undergraduates to enter the modern-day instrumental laboratory competently and confidently and heightening student enthusiasm and interest in chemistry.