Bixby Labs
Department of Chemistry, Lewis University
Project Synergy - NSF S-STEM DUE 2130429
Project Synergy is an NSF-funded scholarship grant for first-time students in biochemistry, chemistry, computer engineering, data science, and physics. The program aims to build connections between the disciplines and foster community, belonging, and STEM identity. Two aspects of Project Synergy that Bixby Labs are involved in are Engineering Interactions, and Developing STEM Identity.
Engineering Interactions
A key aspect of the program revolves around engineering the way support staff like grad assistants and tutors interact with students. This requires training for any member of the department who works with students in this way. There are 3 planned training sessions throughout the year: Fall pre-semester training, Fall mid-semester training, and Spring pre-semester training in January. The training sessions are intended to equip tutors with knowledge on common pitfalls of unprepared college students such as poor study skills, poor problem-solving skills, poor critical thinking skills, student mindset, and being unprepared for the rigors of a STEM education. Any GA, TA, or other member of the department who works with students will be required to attend the training. Faculty will also be invited to participate in a community of practice to learn more about successfully mentoring STEM students.
Developing STEM Identity
An emphasis is placed on building a sense of community and belonging and STEM identity, which are strongly tied to persistence. This is accomplished primarily through community activities and events that will extend beyond the core curriculum, including a summer boot camp and welcome picnic, a welcome-back event in January, shared community outreach events, and other social events throughout the year. In addition, all speakers in the Len Weisenthal Seminar Series will be asked to spend some time talking about their educational and professional journey. These stories will give the students some perspective of the type of growth they are capable of and how STEM identity is built over time. In the curriculum, there will be an increased emphasis on building STEM identity, guiding students to finding personal stakes in the content they are studying, and exploring possible career opportunities.
Through the first year of the grant incoming scholars were interviewed about their attitudes and STEM identity, they completed an identity and self-efficacy survey at the beginning and at the end of the academic year, and perceived community and belonging was investigated through semi-structured narrative interviews with seniors.
Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences in General Chemistry Lab
Curriculum reform in our General Chemistry Lab curriculum revolves around a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in GC II Lab. The semester-long focus on research and skills revolves around SAMs, starting with a literature search and review, contact angle instrument construction and optimization, replication of previous work (from prior lab students), and development and execution of a research plan. Students pursue their application of choice, which in the past has included drug delivery, corrosion inhibition, waterproof fabrics, dental/medical implants, biosensors, and more.
Assessment of the CURE
Assessment of the CURE curriculum in SP20 included:
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curriculum assessment to characterize the opportunities for students to engage in research practices.
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laboratory observations to characterize the nature of the interactions of facilitators and students in the lab.
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pre- and post-course CURE survey results (Lopatto).
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analysis of student reports.
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interviews with GA facilitators and peer research mentors.
In the 2020-21 academic year all General Chemistry Labs were delivered synchronously online via Zoom. The curriculum was completely overhauled and the instructors assembled lab kits for students to execute experiments at home. In General Chemistry II Lab students were still provided with an opportunity to practice research skills and this experience was also assessed with Lopatto's CURE Survey. Preliminary analysis of the results from spring 2021 indicate that students still report modest gains in many areas. Currently, Matt Kubacki (MS student) is working with this data so that we can better understand the outcomes of the remote lab experience.
Three teams of General Chemistry students presented posters of their projects at the 2019 ACS Great Lakes Regional Meeting in Lisle, IL.
3D-Printing for Open-Access Educational and Research Tools
The accessibility of 3D printing in traditional educational settings has allowed for unique pedagogical opportunities. The on-demand production of inexpensive customizable laboratory and demonstrative components provides flexibility and hands-on experience with equipment that would otherwise be prohibitively expensive. Many “open education” communities are collaborating to publish freely shareable and modifiable designs for instrumentation and optomechanical componentry to supplement hands-on learning and experimental research. In the interest of contributing to this movement, novel designs were produced and implemented in classroom and research environments.
3D-Printed Ellipsometer
Ellipsometry is an optical analysis technique that is useful for characterizing the physical properties of a thin-film system. Light reflected from a sample surface undergoes a change in polarization due to phase delay and anisotropic reflection. This phenomenon enables one to perform non-destructive measurements of film thickness, refractive index, surface roughness, and other optical constants. Ellipsometric techniques are particularly convenient for characterizing coatings or films in the semiconductor and optics industries. However, these techniques may be inaccessible to those in secondary or higher education due to the prohibitive cost of ellipsometers and similar instrumentation. In response to this roadblock, we describe the construction of a simple, inexpensive, manually operated, rotating analyzer ellipsometer (RAE). Required materials include a laser pointer, polarizing film, photometric detector and a 3D-printed opto-mechanical framework, which are readily accessible to the aforementioned institutions. The instrument's efficacy was assessed by measuring the thickness of a tetraethyl orthosilicate film using model fitting in Microsoft Excel. These results were compared to those determined by a commercially available MProbe20 Vis reflectometer from SemiconSoft. An average film thickness difference of 0.77% across five samples was observed between the instruments.
3D-Printed Optomechanical Component Kits for Advanced Instrumental Analysis
Kits comprised of 3D-printed parts and common optical and electrical components were used in an Advanced Instrumental Analysis course to explicate the fundamentals of spectrometry through the ground-up building and characterizing of a variety of spectrometers. More complex instruments such as Flame Photometers and Fluorometers were chosen as final projects by student groups, each requiring unique and advanced problems to be solved. The effectiveness of this instructional technique was assessed through survey of student experience and comparison to previous semesters. We expect from student comments that learning outcomes have improved with the inclusion of kit building activities.
Rotating-Analyzer Ellipsometer constructed from 3D-printed optomechanical components and off-the-shelf optical components.
