STEM Education Institute Tuesday Seminar
Julian Tyson of the UMass Amherst Chemistry Department will be giving a seminar titled "The Undergraduate Component of The Arsenic Project."
The undergraduate component of The Arsenic Project consists of a one-credit, independent study Honors Colloquium involving several small groups, each of which consists of one graduate student mentor, one student taking a junior-level analytical chemistry course, and several students taking freshman chemistry. The program, which started in the fall of 2004 and so far has involved about 200 freshman and 50 juniors, is designed to have many of the characteristics of an authentic research project. It takes place over a significant time period, allowing students the opportunity (a) to become familiar with the relevant big picture, detailed background, and previous work, (b) to conduct a series of experiments, in which the designs of the later ones can be based on the outcomes of earlier ones, (c) to draw conclusions, summarize the findings, make suggestions for further work, and (d) to write a report containing the findings of interest to the broader community.