REU Site: Interdisciplinary Working Group for Chemical Analysis in Low-Resource Settings

University Of Notre Dame, Notre Dame IN

Investigators

Abstract

This award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE) at the National Science Foundation supports a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site led by Professors Marya Lieberman and Toni L. Barstis at the University of Notre Dame. This REU site and its companion faculty research program will train students and faculty from primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) to design, develop, and test novel analytical methods and instruments for use in low resource settings. It will give early career students a chance to use their science or engineering knowledge and skills to help people in the poorest nations of the world. The projects will be aimed at different goals such as to identify low quality pharmaceuticals, diagnose human and animal diseases, detect environmental contamination or food adulteration, and discover and manage bacterial drug resistance. The experience will empower the participants to use their science knowledge and skills to solve real problems, and it will enlarge their view of themselves as global citizens and agents of change. The objective of this REU site is to bring chemical analysis out of the lab and into the world, particularly in resource-limited locations. Students will study diagnostic tools and technology, portable instruments, sample-collection/analysis methods, or new ideas for remote imaging or monitoring, and they will also learn about the differences between technological infrastructure in developed and developing countries. The intellectual focus of the site is developing and testing better (cheaper, faster, more practical) ways to perform chemical analyses that are relevant to problems in developing countries. Students will study diagnostic tools & technology, portable instruments and sample-collection/analysis methods. The target analytes may be biological (disease markers, pathogens) or chemical (falsified drugs, environmental contaminants, organophosphates in the cooking oil). To develop analytical methodology and instruments that work reliably outside a controlled lab setting is a both a challenge and an opportunity for students to apply their budding skills in building instruments, designing experiments and rigorously analyzing data.