NEW INSTRUMENT TO OFFER CHEMISTRY LAB ACCESS STATEWIDE OVER THE INTERNET

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 15, 1998

Fairbanks, Alaska - A new state-of-the art laboratory instrument, valued at about a quarter of a million dollars, is about to be employed statewide to enhance undergraduate chemistry classes. The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer will be used to probe the complex structures of molecules and to study the dynamics of molecular processes.

Alaska's chemistry students are involved in numerous projects, including studies of Alzheimer's disease, plant and animal interactions, greenhouse gases, industrial pollution in the arctic and hydrocarbons in the marine environment.

The new NMR, which is the latest addition to a full complement of scientific instruments used by chemistry students and researchers to study complex organic and inorganic chemistry processes, will be housed at the Natural Sciences Building on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Students at both the Anchorage and Juneau campuses will benefit from the instrument by means the NMR's remote access capabilities available over the Internet.

UAF associate professor of chemistry Tom Clausen along with UAF chemistry professor Richard Stolzberg and UAA chemistry professor John Kennish wrote the successful proposal to the National Science Foundation which provided $100,000 to purchase the $237,580 NMR. The rest of the money came from UAF matching funds.

Clausen, who was principal investigator on the NMR project, says the instrument is extremely "high tech." He also says that contrary to what the name might suggest, the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer uses no radioactive substances. The NMR operates on the same principles as Magnetic Resonance Imagery, or MRIs, frequently used in hospitals.

"It uses a strong and uniform magnetic field that is impossible to obtain with permanent magnets. Instead it uses an electromagnet with superconductors, which are materials without electric resistance. That allows an electric current to run in a loop of wire indefinitely without any external power," Clausen said. In order to maintain superconductor status, the magnet has to be chilled to -451.5° F, only 8° F above the temperature where molecules theoretically stop all motion.

UAF's new provost Paul Reichardt, who was until recently the dean of the College of Sciences, Engineering and Mathematics, said the project is likely to attract national interest because of the NMR's remote access capabilities. "In my opinion, this proposal represents the single best project we could implement for the undergraduate science education in Alaska today," Reichardt said.

The NMR is expected to be online in time for the fall semester. It will be used in five existing undergraduate courses at UAF, three at UAA and one at UAS, as well as in a new senior-level class to be developed as a result of the new instrument.

CONTACT: Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Thomas Clausen, (907) 474-5512, by e-mail: fftpc@uaf.edu

DPD/6-15-98/98-069