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Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs) in Alaska. New GC-MS Experiments and Experiences for College and
Pre-College Students |
America's Arctic University |
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A two-year project (proposal number 0736946) that is funded by the National Science Foundation, Division of Undergraduate Education, Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement (CCLI) program (December, 2007). |
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| PI | John Keller | ffjwk@uaf.edu | 907-474-6042 |
| Co-PI | Todd Gouin | fftg@uaf.edu | 907-474-1966 |
| Senior Personnel | Cathy Cahill | ffcfc@uaf.edu | 907-474-6905 |
| Marina Castillo | ffmrc@uaf.edu | 907-474-7732 | |
| Tom Clausen | fftpc@uaf.edu | 907-474-5512 | |
| Emily Reiter | fnear@uaf.edu | 907-474-6748 |
| Abstract. This is a project to enhance teaching -and student learning- of concepts and procedures of environmental chemistry at the pre-college, freshman, and advanced undergraduate levels at UAF. The project will begin with purchase and installation of an Agilent gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS), model 5895C Inert XL with chemical ionization (CI) and electron impact (EI) sources, and a CombiPal sample injector with headspace and SPME (solid-phase microextraction) capabilities. This instrument will significantly enhance the department's analytical capabilities and will enable faculty to offer a variety of new experiments to students at all levels. | |
| Agilent GC-MS instrument. The machine described in the proposal has been ordered and is scheduled for delivery on April 24, 2008. Installation should take about one week. | |
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Agilent 5895C Inert XL gas
chromatograph-mass spectrometer (shown with the standard autosampler, which will be replaced by the CombiPal sampling robot seen at the right). |
The CombiPal robot can inject liquid samples, vapors arising from the headspace of an enclosed sample, or a fiber with sample molecules adsorbed to it (a solid phase micro-extraction SPME fiber). |
| Proposed Experiments, Laboratory Courses, and Participating Faculty. Check our progress with each new experiment by clicking on the course entry. | ||
| Course | GC-MS Experiment | Faculty |
| Rural Alaska Honors Institute pre-college chemistry (Chem 165) | Analysis of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Alaska | Marina Castillo, Todd Gouin, and John Keller |
| General chemistry for science majors (Ch 105) | Isotopic analysis of halogenated organics | Emily Reiter and John Keller |
| Organic chemistry laboratory (Chem 324) | Mass spectral analysis of fragrance molecules | John Keller and Tom Clausen |
| Advanced analytical lab (Chem 413) | Equilibrium partitioning of POPs | Todd Gouin |
| Physical chemistry laboratory (Chem 434) | Forensic analysis of fingerprint fatty acids | Catherine Cahill |
| Assessment |
| Cindy Fabbri (907-474-1558, ffcf@uaf.edu), from the UAF School of Education, is helping design assessment instruments and write assessment reports for the project. Each proposed experiment has a different specific educational goal. The goals and proposed assessment methods are described in the Project Description (see link below). Also, each of the linked project pages does, or will, have a section detailing assessment plans or results to date. |
| Links to documents | Other links |
| Arctic Monitoring and
Assessment Program (AMAP) 2002 Report (12 mb pdf) Proposal View/download Agilent brochures
(pdf files): NSF information |
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Department of Chemistry and
Biochemistry |
