Having research grade equipment available for science students is usually prohibitively expensive for a community college or small college. In this panel discussion we described an NSF-supported innovative approach to share portable scientific equipment between three institutions: Hood College, Mount Saint Mary’s University and Frederick Community College. The significant benefits for student learning through access to state-of-the-art instrumentation were discussed. The challenges and experiences from the planning stages of the grant through the implementation were presented. Based on our experiences to date, we recommended best practices for inter-institutional and intra-institutional collaborations. We also described other collaborations that have developed as a result of this inter-institutional cooperation.

1. Expanding Scientific Instrumentation Access at
Multiple Institutions
Frederick Community College Panelists:
Roseann Abdu (rabdu@frederick.edu)
Debbie Ellis (dellis@frederick.ed)
Perry Wood (pwood@frederick.edu)
Hood College Panelist:
Christopher Stromberg
(Stromberg@hood.edu)
Frederick Community College
Moderator:
Patricia Sheppard (psheppard@frederick.edu)
AFACCT ‘16 Conference, Session 6.7; Friday, January 8, 2015, 11:40.
College of Southern Maryland

2. Hood College

3. Genesis of Concept
Existing interest in portable instrumentation for
analyzing art and archaeological samples
• Finding funding was a challenge
Met with Debbie Ellis from FCC during her sabbatical
Identified access to modern instrumentation as a
major challenge for both Hood and FCC
Could sharing portable instrumentation be part of
the solution?

4. Partner Institutions
Hood College
• 4-year Liberal Arts
• Masters Programs
• 1359 Undergrads
• 1006 Grads
• Department of
Chemistry and
Physics
Frederick
Community College
• 2-year College
• 6031 Undergrads
• Department of
Science
Mount Saint Mary’s
University
• 4-year Liberal Arts
• Masters Programs
• 1689 Undergrads
• 338 Grads
• Department of
Science

5. Purpose
Expanding access to modern instrumentation at partner
institutions by sharing portable instrumentation-one each of
the instruments shown below were funded by the shared NSF
grant
Raman
Spectrometer
UV/Visible
Spectrometer
Infrared
Spectrometer
X-Ray Fluorescence
Spectrometer

6. Identification of Grant Opportunity
National Science Foundation
Improving Undergraduate STEM
Education Program
• Goals:
• Improve STEM Learning and Learning Environments
• Broaden Participation and Institutional Capacity for STEM Learning
• Build the Professional STEM Workforce for Tomorrow
• Due Feb. 4, 2014
• Received 1014 proposals requesting $794 million ($58 million
was available for awards)
Program has been continued and expanded, due dates
in November 2016 and January 2017 (see NSF 15-585)

7. Planning, Writing, and Submission
Instruments Identified
• Necessary instrument specifications were determined
• Quotes obtained from multiple companies
Each School Determined Local Implementation
• Courses identified that would benefit from instrument access
• Literature searched for existing experiments/ideas
• Plans drafted by people at each school for instrument use
Coordination of Policies
• Financial, time tracking, and reporting
Chris Stromberg, PI, Combined Sections into Unified
Proposal

8. Project Details
3-Year Project
• Experiments to be developed during summers
• Implementation and testing during school year
Budget: $330,975
• $135,000 for instruments
• $170,000 for students and faculty salaries
• Remainder for supplies, travel, and assessment

9. Grant Activities
Instrumentation
• FT-IR and UV-Vis purchased for FCC
• XRF and Raman purchased for Hood
• Instruments shared as needed
Experiment Development
• Summer students for three years at each school (paid)
• Each summer, schools develop experiments for different
instrument
Dissemination
• Journal articles
• Presentations at conferences
• Website

10. Working Together
Bi-Weekly Meetings During Summer
• Students from host school present their work
• FOOD!!!
Social Events
• Hershey Park trip
• Tubing on Potomac
• Tour of NIST
Project has gone well beyond initial goals
• Presentations for FCC classes and events
• Already working on the next project…

11. Frederick Community College

12. FCC Implementation – Post Jan. 2015
Summer Interns
• Intern job description written and approved
• Selected and hired two student interns
Budget and Purchasing
• Established budget accounts as sub-contract
• Identified and complied with needs for NSF reporting
• Purchased Bruker FTIR and Ocean Optics UV/Visible
spectrometers

13. FCC Courses Impacted by the Grant
Physical Science
• Modern Physics
• Physical Geology
Chemistry
• General Chemistry I & II
• Organic Chemistry I & II
Science Honors Courses
& Projects

14. Summer 2015: Incorporating IR
Spectroscopy into FCC Chemistry Labs
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0.4
0.6
0.8
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Transmittance
wavenumber (cm-1)
Excedrin 2: Acetaminophen Extraction
Acetaminophen Acetaminophen Interns

15. FCC Faculty Responsibilities
Administrative Activities
• Equipment purchases - Quite the adventure!
• Hosted FCC group meeting
• Monitored the budget
• Reviewed NSF deadlines with Grants Director
• Year-end final report
Summer-Fall Grant Research Activities
• Attended group meetings
• Attended intern and instrument training sessions
• Supervised interns and honors students

16. FCC
NSF
Summer
Interns
Summer
2015
Danielle Brown Jerica Wilson

17. FCC Student Activities
Interns: Danielle & Jerica, Summer 2015
• Authored written and video FTIR instructions
• Trained 3 adjunct faculty
• Rewrote 12 organic chemistry I & II experiments to include FTIR
• Served as teaching assistants in summer organic labs
• Hosted lunch-networking event for all grant interns & honors
student
Honors Students: Marissa and Jerica, Fall 2015
• Authored instructions for Red Ocean UV/Vis & FCC’s Perkin
Elmer FTIR
Field Trips
• NIST
• NCI-NPSG

18. FTIR in Action at FCC!

19. Dissemination at FCC
At FCC - we’ve been unusually busy with our sharing
• PowerPoint Presentation at August Learning Retreat
• Poster at Presidents Inauguration
• Poster and Talk at Science Dept’s STEM Learning Day
• Talks and Instrument Demonstration at STEM Celebration
• Two Student Posters at Fall Honor’s Forum

20. Dissemination Beyond . .
Beyond
• Three Student Posters at UMBC’s 18th Annual Undergraduate
Research Symposium
• Panel Presentation at AFACCT
• Intern Posters and PI talk at Spring ACS
• Plan to submit additional poster abstracts to August ACS

21. UMBC’s 18th Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium
Dr. Wen Nellis, FCC
Danielle Brown
Dr. Perry Wood, FCC

22. Ongoing FCC Student & Staff
Involvement
Grant continues Summers 2016 & 2017
• Hire new interns
• FCC Challenge: CC Interns leave at end of summer, poses
unexpected challenges with communication, such as
presenting at and attending conferences
• Incorporate XRF and Raman spectroscopies into General
Chemistry, Physics and Geology courses
• Continue to train adjuncts on new technologies
• Provide professional development for Science Faculty and
Staff
• Patricia Sheppard as consulting geologist

23. Acknowledgements
National Science Foundation
NSF-IUSE (DUE-1431522)
• Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations expressed in this material are those of
the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.
Hood College
Mount Saint Mary’s
University
Frederick Community
College