The Chemistry Department Equipment Fund is used to purchase smaller instruments or equipment for use in our teaching and research laboratories. Our students use the equipment in collaboration with faculty as part of a teaching laboratory or research program.
For Day of Giving, we are raising funds for a diode array scanning UV/VIS spectrophotometer for our forensic chemistry program. All chemistry majors at Washburn acquire necessary analytical instrumentation experience, either through the Advanced Forensic Chemistry Lab, the Instrumental Analysis Course, or through their required research capstone project. The ultraviolet/visible spectrophotometer (UV/VIS) is one of the basic instruments from which students begin their experience with scientific instrumentation. Experience with the UV/VIS not only provides a simple demonstration of theoretical concepts studied in chemistry, it is also one of the most widely-used detectors in a variety of scientific laboratories, including hospitals, pharmaceuticals and forensics. In order to gain worthwhile experience using this instrument, students must be able to analyze a range of calibration standards in sequence with prepared standards and blanks.
This instrument is an inexpensive option for hands-on teaching of the basics of spectrophotometric quantitative analysis in our forensic chemistry program. We currently have one of these instruments at the KBI lab which works effectively. However, given the success of our forensic chemistry program, we need an additional instrument to serve our students more efficiently. Students benefit from one-on-one, hands-on experience. Adding this equipment to the program will greatly enhance the chemistry educational experience at Washburn, enabling the students to transition from simple operation to relevant experience, adding valuable skills for the workforce in our community.
Gifts to purchase the diode array scanning UV/VIS spectrophotometer should be made to the Chemistry Department Equipment Fund.
