Black Lives Matter

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The first 12 years of my professional life were spent at Chicago State University, a primarily minority serving undergraduate institution located in South Side Chicago. I remember very clearly my interview with the faculty, often being asked how I (a white guy) could contribute to the successful education of young black scientists.

Having grown up in a very monolithic community, the only honest answer I could give was to state that I was open to guidance, willing to learn and committed to doing what it takes to promote student success.

I experienced many joys when students became the first graduates of their families; I experienced great sorrow mourning the loss of students who were victims of gang violence. My students and I continued to challenge one another, learn from one another and become better because of one another.

I feel sorry for racists who do not value diversity. Their ignorance puts them at a disadvantage and makes them weak. It closes doors to them that would lead to remarkable experiences and growth.

The students of Chicago State opened my eyes and mind in ways that I still find difficult to express because they still impact me three years after leaving the college for another school. I consider myself fortunate to have had the opportunity to teach chemistry to the future black leaders of our field and to learn about learning in an environment very different from what I had known.

This is why Black Lives Matter to me, and why I stand by those who continue to fight against the injustice and inequality that should have been left behind in the last millennium.

Attack of the Algae Part 2

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Yesterday I started an algae control protocol for my garden pond and decided to monitor the progress with spectroscopy. I’m simply measuring the absorbance and fluorescence (405 nm excitation) of the pond water using a Vernier Spectravis spectrophotometer. Here are the results, compared with yesterday’s spectra.

Fluorescence spectra (ex. 405 nm) of garden pond water following treatment of the pond with algaecide.
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Killing two problems with one spectrometer

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I’ve got two problems. First, my ornamental garden pond is filled with algae. In the past, I have simply emptied it out and refilled, but I’m tired of doing that, and I also suspect there are some tadpoles growing in the pond and I’d like to let them do their thing, if possible.

Second, COVID has shut down summer research at my school, and I’m in need of a science project to keep my mind in the game. Since I work mostly with instrumentation design, I brought much of my lab home with me during the transition to on-line learning this semester. One of the instruments I brought back was a Vernier Labquest with the SpectroVis Plus spectrophotometer/fluorimeter.

With most of New York having recently entered Phase II of our return to normal – whatever normal will look like – my wife and I have been spending our stimulus checks at the local garden supply store. One of their products is an algaecide that “works fast”. That got me thinking; I don’t know “fast” means in the algaecide’s promotional language, but I need to clean up this pond and I can use the spectrometer to help me measure how fast is fast.

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COVID is just a catalyst

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Science educators have been grappling with the challenges of remote instruction long before the pandemic. The virus has simply lowered the activation barrier to implementation.  The chemistry education community has yet to adopt a remote alternative to time and resource intensive laboratory instruction, and the result of this nonconcurrence is the messiness, fear and uncertainty you witness today.

There are plenty of alternatives to face-to-face laboratory instruction: virtual laboratory simulations; videos of faculty performing experiments; kits where students can perform experiments at home.  These solutions may have worked adequately this past semester, given that those of us who had a week to transition to on-line formats were considered “fortunate”, but they are not long-term solutions.  The reason being: we don’t really know what problem we are trying to solve.

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Socially distant ugrad research?

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If you happen to follow any PUI Chemistry professors on social media, you’ll know that one of the more depressing aspects of the pandemic has been its devastating effect on undergraduate research opportunities. Summer research programs have been canceled and – obviously – any projects started during the first half of the now-finished semester were squashed.

Or were they?

My research group – Bespoke Scientific Instrumentation Design (BSID) – is build around the premise that scientific instrumentation should be more broadly accessible. Typically, what we mean by accessible is open hardware and software designs that allow end-users to customize instrumentation to fit their research directives or to lower the price point of entry-level instrumentation to facilitate educational research opportunities. However, in these virus-stricken times, accessibility has taken on a new meaning.

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