Utilizing Service Learning in the Analytical Chemistry Classroom

Service learning has been incorporated into the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory to give students a real world sampling experience including both soil and water, alongside professionals in their fields. Analysis of the soil and water includes metals, suspended solids, phosphorus and nitrogen containing compounds requiring knowledge of several different instrumental and wet chemical techniques. Most educational experiences do not afford students the chance to see the real world applications of their classroom knowledge, but with the service learning aspects this deficiency has been resolved. In the soil experience, students provide homeowners from the Highland Park and South Wedge neighbors with lead analysis of their soil as well as written reports of those levels and information on removing or working with lead contaminated soil. For the water project, students are providing baseline analysis of nutrients and metals found in Buckland Creek for the Department of Environmental Services, Division of Pure Waters, which studies the effects of industrial expansion and human activity on water quality in Rochester. The analytical chemistry students further their experience in an advanced analytical chemistry course the following year by performing further analysis on the soil and water, but on a more independent level. They use their previous learned skills to gather water after rainfall and perform analysis back in the laboratory with no structured guidance. The class is also expanding to include a plant biology section, where students will test the affects on growth and safety of plants grown in leaded soil. This experiment will allow students to provide proof to homeowners as to which plants are healthy to eat and which can be used for phytoremediation. In addition to feeling like active contributors to the community, the students and homeowners have been interviewed and photographed for an article detailing lead contamination issues

Utilizing Service-Learning in the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory: Soil and Water Analysis in Rochester, New York

For an analytical chemistry course at St. John Fisher College, instructors designed a servicelearning project on soil and water analysis to achieve the following two goals: 1) to introduce analytical chemistry students to soil- and water-testing methods by working in collaboration with surrounding neighborhoods residents and government agencies and 2) to prepare written reports of the results for the designated community partners. Service-learning students conducted soil testing for lead on homes and perspective community garden sites around Rochester, NY with plans to establish planting methods to revitalize polluted soil. Four different communities contributed soil samples. The entire project was performed in connection with Lynn Donahue, St. John Fisher College’s service-learning director. To analyze the lead in the soil, EPA method 3050b including acid digestion was utilized, followed by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS). Results showed that many of the home sites contained levels of lead far above the accepted EPA guidelines of 400 ppm for play areas and 1,200 ppm for non-play areas. To further assist homeowners, students provided written reports detailing the results of the four sites tested on their property and provided suggestions of ways to rid the soil of lead and protect themselves from lead-containing soil. The students also conducted water testing on both Buckland Creek (before and after rain events) and the Genesee River in coordination with the Department of Environmental Services, Division of Pure Waters. Testing included pH, dissolved oxygen levels, buffering capacity, sulfide, carbon dioxide, chloride, alkalinity, water hardness, chemical oxygen demand, phosphorus, nitrates, zinc, lead and copper. Experimental methods involved the comparison of up to three techniques per analyte, utilizing titration methods, commercial kits, electrode probes, and spectrophotometric instrumentation

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.Comment: 5th version as accepted to PASP; 31 pages, 18 figures; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/acb29

Spectrophotometric Quantification of Ibuprofen Release in Dissolution Testing. A Pharmaceutical Analysis Experiment for Instrumental Analysis Laboratory

An instrumental analysis laboratory experiment that demonstrates the use of dissolution testing and UV-Vis spectroscopy in drug analysis is presented. This experiment serves to provide a basis for dissolution testing to undergraduate chemistry students. Dissolution is an important test in establishing the quality of pharmaceutical drugs. The experiment illustrates a real life pharmaceutical analysis application aimed at determining the rate of drug release from different dosage forms of ibuprofen as a function of time. Dissolution testing of three Advil tablet dosage forms was performed in dissolution media that mimic to some extent the physiological conditions encountered in the stomach and small intestine. Details of the experimental procedure are described along with results. This experiment provides chemistry students with experience in the basic methods used for quantifying drug release in dissolution tests in the pharmaceutical industry, and introduces them partly to the concept of process analytical chemistry

Spectrophotometric Quantification of Ibuprofen Release in Dissolution Testing. A Pharmaceutical Analysis Experiment for Instrumental Analysis Laboratory

An instrumental analysis laboratory experiment that demonstrates the use of dissolution testing and UV-Vis spectroscopy in drug analysis is presented. This experiment serves to provide a basis for dissolution testing to undergraduate chemistry students. Dissolution is an important test in establishing the quality of pharmaceutical drugs. The experiment illustrates a real life pharmaceutical analysis application aimed at determining the rate of drug release from different dosage forms of ibuprofen as a function of time. Dissolution testing of three Advil tablet dosage forms was performed in dissolution media that mimic to some extent the physiological conditions encountered in the stomach and small intestine. Details of the experimental procedure are described along with results. This experiment provides chemistry students with experience in the basic methods used for quantifying drug release in dissolution tests in the pharmaceutical industry, and introduces them partly to the concept of process analytical chemistry

Utilizing Service-Learning in the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory: Soil and Water Analysis in Rochester, New York

For an analytical chemistry course at St. John Fisher College, instructors designed a servicelearning project on soil and water analysis to achieve the following two goals: 1) to introduce analytical chemistry students to soil- and water-testing methods by working in collaboration with surrounding neighborhoods residents and government agencies and 2) to prepare written reports of the results for the designated community partners. Service-learning students conducted soil testing for lead on homes and perspective community garden sites around Rochester, NY with plans to establish planting methods to revitalize polluted soil. Four different communities contributed soil samples. The entire project was performed in connection with Lynn Donahue, St. John Fisher College’s service-learning director. To analyze the lead in the soil, EPA method 3050b including acid digestion was utilized, followed by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS). Results showed that many of the home sites contained levels of lead far above the accepted EPA guidelines of 400 ppm for play areas and 1,200 ppm for non-play areas. To further assist homeowners, students provided written reports detailing the results of the four sites tested on their property and provided suggestions of ways to rid the soil of lead and protect themselves from lead-containing soil. The students also conducted water testing on both Buckland Creek (before and after rain events) and the Genesee River in coordination with the Department of Environmental Services, Division of Pure Waters. Testing included pH, dissolved oxygen levels, buffering capacity, sulfide, carbon dioxide, chloride, alkalinity, water hardness, chemical oxygen demand, phosphorus, nitrates, zinc, lead and copper. Experimental methods involved the comparison of up to three techniques per analyte, utilizing titration methods, commercial kits, electrode probes, and spectrophotometric instrumentation