REU Site: Research in Chemistry at West Virginia University

Richards-Babb教授、Popp教授及其在C.西弗吉尼亚大学化学系的尤金班尼特主持本科生研究经验（REU）网站。该项目由化学部的REU网站计划和刺激竞争性研究的实验计划（EPSCoR）资助，这两个项目都在美国国家科学基金会（NSF），在三个资助年度中的每一年为10名学生提供10周的支持。本科生参与者被纳入以化学为重点的科学研究，以培养下一代美国科学家。该项目主要支持主要来自本科院校和社区学院的学生，特别是妇女、代表性不足的少数民族、美国武装部队退伍军人和来自经济萧条地区的人（例如，阿巴拉契亚）。参与提高了参与者参加化学或相关学科研究生水平培训的可能性，从而提高了美国的科学劳动力。参与者提供了一个全面的计划，快速移动他们走向研究独立。这种准备包括日常研究工作与培训相结合：研究过程和尖端科学仪器;实验室安全;科学道德;沟通;和合作。研究项目的重点是在医疗保健，法医学/犯罪学，能源，可持续性和运输领域的研究，以直接和间接造福社会的潜力。该项目侧重于解决与健康化学相关的基本科学问题，包括：用于检测或治疗疾病的治疗药物的开发（例如，老年痴呆症、癌症）;新的催化反应，包括使用可持续和生物相容的方法合成药物和精细化学品，以及从实验和理论上研究燃烧过程，以减少对环境有害的排放。研究内容包括：作为碳纳米管模板的环对亚苯基的合成;使用扫描探针技术研究生物相关表面的纳米级机械响应;使用激光泵浦-探测光谱学研究自由基燃烧产物的动力学;开发研究亨廷顿蛋白形成低聚物的离子迁移率-质谱法;蒸气压和安托万图的应用，以解释温度如何影响汽油样品在火灾碎片的风化;和铜催化的氧化脱羧偶联产物的合成和它们的表征通过NMR，IR和质谱。REU参与者与教师和研究生合作开展研究，并接受现代科学设备（NMR，IR，IMS-MS，扫描探针技术，激光泵浦探针光谱学等）的培训。和/或在计算机建模软件的使用中。

Professors Richards-Babb, Popp, and colleagues in the C. Eugene Bennett Department of Chemistry at West Virginia University host a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site. This project is funded by the REU Sites Program in the Chemistry Division and the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) both at the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support 10 students for 10 weeks in each of the three grant years. Undergraduate student participants are integrated into chemistry-focused scientific investigations in order to train the next generation of U.S. scientists. This project largely supports students from primarily undergraduate institutions and community colleges, especially women, underrepresented minorities, U.S. Armed Forces veterans and persons from economically depressed areas (e.g., Appalachia). Involvement improves the likelihood that participants enroll in graduate-level training in chemistry or a related discipline, thereby improving the scientific workforce of the United States. Participants are provided with a comprehensive program that rapidly moves them toward research independence. This preparation includes day-to-day research work intermingled with training in: the research process and cutting-edge scientific instrumentation; laboratory safety; scientific ethics; communication; and collaboration. Research projects are focused on the potential of research to benefit society both directly and indirectly in the fields of health care, forensics/criminology, energy, sustainability, and transportation.This project focuses on solving fundamental scientific problems related to the chemistry of health including: the development of therapeutic drugs for detection or treatment of diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's, cancer); new catalytic reactions including the synthesis of pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals using sustainable and biocompatible methods, and the examination of the combustion process, both experimentally and theoretically, in order to reduce environmentally harmful emissions. The research includes: the synthesis of cycloparaphenylenes as templates for carbon nanotubes; the use of scanning probe techniques to study nanoscale mechanical responses of biologically relevant surfaces; the use of laser pump-probe spectroscopy to study the kinetics of radical combustion products; the development of ion mobility-mass spectrometry methods studying oligomer formation by the huntingtin protein; the application of vapor pressure and Antoine plots to explain how temperature affects the weathering of gasoline samples in fire debris; and the synthesis of copper-catalyzed oxidative decarboxylative coupling products and their characterization via NMR, IR, and mass spectrometry. REU participants carry out their research in collaboration with faculty and graduate students and are trained on modern scientific equipment (NMR, IR, IMS-MS, scanning probe techniques, laser-pump probe spectroscopy, etc.) and/or in the use of computer modeling software.