Progress 08/01/06 to 07/31/07
Outputs
The funded project has continued the four specified aims. Enhancement of the biology and chemistry curriculum: Progress has been made in Aim 1 by the Lehman College providing funds for a full-time College Laboratory Technician (CLT) to be in charge of the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) facility. The CLT is a female Latino, and she will spend one day per week maintaining the NMR at Lehman. Several Lehman courses have incorporated the new NMR into their curriculum, including Organic Chemistry II, Biochemistry, and Phytochemsitry. Summer internship program: The pilot summer undergraduate research program (SURP) for City University of New York (CUNY) undergraduate students began in Summer 2006. Students were invited to apply via an online application: http://db2.chem.cmu.edu/ccsrp/ccsrp.php. Although two students participated in the 2006 USDA-sponsored SURP experience, we were not successful in recruiting any students for the summer of 2007. Project staff have had a
number of meetings to develop new recruiting strategies for 2007. One staff member is planning a recruiting trip to Hunter College, CUNY in December 2007, and another from Carnegie Mellon University, is planning to go to Hunter College in January 2008 for a recruiting trip. The success of the SURP program is being evaluated by an outside consultant. This consultant had personal pre, mid and post program interviews with both students of the pilot summer program. We will present her findings in the final report. Identifying one outstanding graduate student for a fellowship: The project staff is still working to identify an appropriate CUNY student to be awarded the $50,000 fellowship. Upgrade the NMR facilities: The NMR facilities at both Lehman and Carnegie Mellon have been upgraded in the first year of the grant. Lehman has purchased a Bruker inversed-detection (BBI) probe, and Carnegie Mellon has procured a Bruker inverse triple resonance (1H, 13C, 15N, 2H) TXI 1 mm microprobe for
its 500 MHz NMR. Both Lehman College and Carnegie Mellon University provided matching funds for these equipment purchases. Dr. Gil has come to Lehman's NMR facility two times in the last year for technical training. At Lehman, the sensitivity of the NMR instrument was significantly increased by the installation of the BBI probe. A factor of two of increase in sensitivity for standard 1D1H NMR experiments, and a significant reduction (x16 faster) on the experiment time for reversed detected heteronuclear correlation experiments like proton-carbon HSQC and HMBC. At and Carnegie Mellon, the acquisition of the microliter probe propelled us into the realm of miniaturized NMR analysis. The competitive advantages of this microprobe are that it uses 5 uL sample volume and has extremely high sensitivity, current volume is 500 uL. Good quality proton NMR spectra can be obtained in one scan with just few micrograms of sample.
PRODUCTS: None
OUTCOMES: Some of the major outcomes to date include improved NMR facilities at both Lehman and Carnegie Mellon; two students have completed the USDA-sponsored SURP program at Carnegie Mellon; new bridges have been built between CUNY institutions and Carnegie Mellon; and significantly more students are being exposed to modern NMR at Lehman with the help of the technician. We estimate that each year, approximately 100 students are exposed to NMR at Lehman, with about 55% being Hispanic, and 40% African American.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Our primary dissemination activities have been achieved through a state-of-the-art webpage: http://www.chem.cmu.edu/ccsrp/
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Future activities include continued recruiting of students for SURP for summer 2008. The website will continue to be updated. We plan to more formally institutionalize at Lehman a technician to run the NMR and help students use it.
Impacts
More Hispanic and underrepresented students have been given an opportunity to conduct summer research at a research-intensive university, including two students in 2006. A Hispanic woman has been hired to maintain Lehman's NMR one day per week. Each year, about 100 Hispanic and underrepresented students have been given the chance to learn about NMR in Lehman classes.
Publications
- Anonymous, 2007, Information about the summer internship program has been published at: http://www.chem.cmu.edu/ccsrp
- Anonymous, 2007Award for Leslie Ann Alexis is described at: http://www.cmu.edu/bio/news/2006/abrcms.shtml
- Anonymous, 2007, Announcement of the grant in the Carnegie Mellon website: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050919_labskills.html
- Anonymous, 2006, Article about the two students of the 2006 CUNY-CMU Summer Program: http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/060731_usda.html
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Progress 08/01/05 to 08/01/06
Outputs
The funded project has four specific aims: 1. Enhance the biology and chemistry curriculum at Lehman using NMR. 2. Create a three-year pilot summer internship program for CUNY undergraduate students. 3. Identify one eligible CUNY student to receive a $50,000 USDA fellowship to Carnegie Mellon. 4. Upgrade the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) facilities at Lehman and Carnegie Mellon. Aim 1: Progress has been made in Aim 1 by hiring a part-time dedicated technician to assist with the operation and maintenance of Lehman's Bruker 300 MHz NMR. The technician has attended a 3-day training course at Bruker Biospin (Billerica, MA). The technician has undergone further intensive one-on-one training with our collaborator, Dr. Roberto Gil of Carnegie Mellon University. Several Lehman courses have incorporated the new NMR into their curriculum, including Organic Chemistry II, Biochemistry, and Phytochemsitry. Aim 2: The pilot summer undergraduate research program (SURP) for CUNY
undergraduate students began in Summer 2006. Two students participated in the 2006 USDA-sponsored SURP experience. Ms. Leslie Ann Alexis, currently a senior at Hunter College, CUNY, worked at Carnegie Mellon with Professor Peter Berget on a project to developed molecular biosensors that can monitor the biochemical environments of living cells. She received an award at the ABRCMS meeting in November 2006 for a poster that described her research with Dr. Berget. Carnegie Mellon issued a press release about this award. Ms. Yetunde Junaid, currently a junior at Hunter College, CUNY, worked with Professor Bruce Armitage on a project involving the synthesis and characterization of dyes for use in confocal scanning laser microscopy. Dr. Roberto Gil has been critical to the success of this SURP. He visited New York City twice in the first year of the grant, and, along with Dr. Edward Kennelly, met with key faculty and administrators at Lehman, City, Hunter, and Brooklyn Colleges. In addition,
Dr. Bruce Armitage of Carnegie Mellon has presented research seminars at both Lehman and Hunter Colleges. These personal interactions have helped to build strong bridges between Carnegie Mellon and CUNY. At the end of the SURP experience, the students presented their research as a 15 minute oral presentation in SURP Symposium. The success of the SURP program is being evaluated by an outside consultant. Aim 3: We are still working to identify an appropriate CUNY student to be awarded the $50,000 fellowship. Aim 4: The NMR facilities at both Lehman and Carnegie Mellon have been upgraded in the first year of the grant. Lehman has purchased a Bruker inversed-detection (BBI) probe, and Carnegie Mellon has procured a Bruker inverse triple resonance microprobe for its 500 MHz NMR. Both Lehman College and Carnegie Mellon University provided matching funds for these equipment purchases. At Lehman, the sensitivity of the NMR instrument was significantly increased by the installation of the BBI
probe. At Carnegie Mellon, the acquisition of the microliter probe propelled us into the realm of miniaturized NMR analysis.
PRODUCTS: New NMR equipment was acquired at Lehman and Carnegie Mellon. Stipends were provided to two CUNY students for their summer research at Carnegie Mellon.
OUTCOMES: Some of the major outcomes to date include: Improved NMR facilities at both Lehman and Carnegie Mellon. Two students have completed the USDA-sponsored SURP program at Carnegie Mellon. New bridges have been built between CUNY institutions and Carnegie Mellon. Significantly more students are being exposed to modern NMR at Lehman with the help of the technician.
DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES: Our primary dissemination activities have been achieved through a state-of-the-art webpage: http://www.chem.cmu.edu/ccsrp/
FUTURE INITIATIVES: Future activities include continued recruiting of students for SURP for summer 2007 and 2008. The website will continue to be updated. We plan to more formally institutionalize at Lehman a technician to run the NMR and help students use it.
Impacts
More Hispanic and underrepresented students have been given an opportunity to conduct summer research at a research-intensive university. More Hispanic and underrepresented students have been given the chance to learn about NMR in Lehman classes.
Publications
- Information about the summer internship program has been published at: http://www.chem.cmu.edu/ccsrp in 2005
- Award for Leslie Ann Alexis is described at: http://www.cmu.edu/bio/news/2006/abrcms.shtml in 2006
- Announcement of the grant in the Carnegie Mellon website: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050919_labskills.html in 2005
- Article about the two students of the 2006 CUNY-CMU Summer Program: http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/060731_usda.html in 2006
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