|
BIRMINGHAM, Ala.-Birmingham-Southern College
is receiving two National Science Foundation awards totaling more
than $200,000 to support projects in its chemistry and mathematics
programs.
The NSF awarded the college $170,721 for a nuclear
magnetic resonance spectrometer for the chemistry program and $30,000
to create a student-centered computer classroom for the mathematics
program.
According to Clyde Stanton, associate professor
of chemistry and chair of the Division of Science and Mathematics
at BSC, the spectrometer will provide students with additional opportunities
to get hands-on experience with advanced instrumentation. The spectrometer
will be used in organic, inorganic, physical, and advanced analytical
labs.
"This instrument was obtained to enhance
the opportunities our students have to work on investigative, problem-based
laboratories," said Stanton. "Instead of having a 'cookbook'
approach to science, the students will be asked to develop protocols,
and measure and interpret their own data. The spectrometer also
will be used by students doing independent research projects with
science faculty. As students progress in their experience with the
instrument, they will continually learn new and advanced techniques."
The NSF award to BSC's mathematics program will
support a new classroom to include 21 networked computers, a projector
system, and two printers.
Stanton said these visualization and computational
tools will complement an interactive learning environment in the
mathematics classroom.
"For example, the ability to 'watch' a 3-D
surface grow in response to input to an equation is one example
of what this technology will bring to the classroom," Stanton
explained.
Birmingham-Southern will dedicate its new $25.1
million, 100,000 square-foot Elton B. Stephens Science Center on
May 9, and Stanton said that the college expects to see an increase
in the number of students involved in the sciences due to these
significantly enhanced teaching and research facilities.
|