James J. Hazdml St.
Procopius College Lisle, lllinois 60532
Argonne-Associated
Colleges
Cooperative Program
O n e of the programs operating under the Argonne National Laboratory's Office of College and University Cooperation2 is that for the Associated Colleges of the Chicago Area (ACCA).a These 19 colleges have an enrollment of over 17,000students and graduate 70 t o 80 Bachelors in Chemistry annually. Basically, this is a plan' to provide an instructional laboratory containing elaborate and expensive equipment in radiochemistry, spectroscopy, radiohiology, computers, and nuclear reactors for the use of students and faculty of the 19 liberal arts colleges. The purpose is t o improve undergraduate education in the sciences and mathematics by allowing the students to use specialized equipment not available on their campuses. The program conceived three years ago to make use of facilities formerly devoted to the training of visiting foreign students in nuclear engineering has been largely modified through the recommendation of cooperative committees for the various sciences. The programs developed by ACCA a t Argonne were used by some 80 other colleges and universities from 10 midwestern states during the 1965-66 school year.
diffractometers and diffraction equipment; electroll paramagnetic resonance spectrometer; gas chromatographs; polarographs; magnetic susceptibility equipment; differential thermal analysis equipment; digital and analog computers; equipment for dipole moment measurements; and nuclear reactors (ARGONAUT). The college instructor selects the experiment to be performed and presents it entirely on his own campus before bringing the student group to Argonne's Instructional Laboratories. The experiments are designed for half day periods. A college instructor conducts thc esperiment with assistance from an Argonne staff member. Nearly all of the students time is spent operating the
Student Programs
The student laboratory experiments are intended to supplement the liberal arts college courses in physical chemistry, biochemistry, advanced analytical chemistry, and advanced inorganic chemistry. The esperiments are centered around the following instruments: A-60 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer; single and multichannel analyzers; fast neutron generators and slow neutron sources; Mossbauer spectrometer; infrared, ultraviolet, and visible spectrometers; 21-foot emission spectrograph; mass spectrometer; X-ray
' Chairman, Chemistry Committee, Associated Colleges of Chicago Ares. U booklet describing the activities of this offioe is available. Requests should be tlddressed to Mr. J. E. Baird, Office of College and University Cooueration,. Areonne National Labor* tow. Areonne. 111.60439. i~hecallegesincluded are: Aurora College Barat College College of St. Franois Concordia College Elrnhurst College George Williams College Judson College Lewis College Lake Forest College
Mundelein College North Central College North Park College Olivet Naaarene College Rosary College St. Dominic College St. Proeopius College St. Xavier College Trinity Christim College Wheston College
'This plan differs from that for the Associated Colleges of the 41, 668 Midwest described by E. W. Phelan, =IS JOURNAL, (1964).
Or. Joseph West, Sf. Xovier College, with two rtudent. and on Argonne technicion at t h e Mas Spectrometer. equipment and gathering data to be talicrt Ironic for analysis. Many ACCA colleges d l hring studeut groups from 3 to 12 times a semester to supplement a course it is presenting on campus. hIauy collcgcs outside of the Chicago area bring students for 2 or 3 days once a year. The participating colleges provide the support for transportation, lodging, and food, while Argonne operates the instructional lahoratorics through funds provided by the Department of Xuclcar Education and Training of the U.S. AEC. S o collegr: credit is granted by Argonne. All grading of student performance is the responsibility of the individual fncuky member. In the last two academic years, senior thcsis work has been encouraged under joint supervisio~tof the college and Argonne staff members. Several schools are currently develouing . . . indeuendent studv or thesis and arc ;ulqtlt,ntt~~tir~u. tht!se l,rc,gr.un-; I,\. u-c . r i tvluil)~t.c~~.t ill tht, ~ I I Z T ~ I:,hor:t~urit+. ~ ~ ~ I ~ I I T1.i~ I J I I ~ U ~ TI.:,.. X Il It Id :, Volume 44, Number 7, July 7967
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gradual increase in students in chemistry from 8 in 1965 to an anticipated 15 in 1966-67 academic year. The following are representative of the research projects that have been carried out: Conductivity measurements of tributyl phosphate complexes Dipole measurements of mixed inorganic complexes to aid in determination of orientation of ligands Gas and thin-layer chromatography for the seprtration of fatty acid esters, organic dyes using different types of support materi8.k Low-temperature differential thermal analysis of hydraaine methanol system Magnetic susceptibility measurement of complexes
During the fall semester of the 196667 year, a course was offered in advanced organic chemistry which was sponsored by ACCA. Students and staff came from several colleges of this group. Faculty members gave several hours of lectures in their specialty. Credit, examinations, grades, etc., were given at each individual school. Guest lecturers were used i n some areas of the course. The course was planned and organized by the chemistry faculty of the ACCA group. Since the course is offered for 12 weeks with 4 hours of lecture per week, it accommodates both semester and quarter college terms. The need for this cooperative effort stems from the fact that a number of the ACCA Chemistry Departments either offeror desire to offera course in advanced organic chemistry. However, the number of students enrolled in this course at each school varies from 3 to 8. Therefore, this cooperative course offers a better utilization of manpower, and also has organic chemistry staff members teaching in the area of their specialization in organic chemistry. This cooperative effortallows more time for staff members to initiate or increase research participation with their undergraduate students. A course in biochemical instrumentation is now being planned. Faculty Programs
Faculty workshops are devoted to special topics for a two-day period and are presented on Fridays and Saturdays. Topics covered are Health Physics, Activation Analysis, Radiotracer Applications, Counting Techniques, Infrared Spectroscopy, Gas Chromatography, X-ray Diffraction, IR-U.V. Visible Spectroscopy, Computer Applications, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroi&opy. The style of these workshops is very informal. Introductorv lectures are eiven hv the Areonne staff member. but the main emphasis has been on experimental techniques and instrumentation. Usually the experiments
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are suitable for student work and progress to those bordering on research. The faculty members suggest some of the experiments and have been active in suggesting new areas for faculty workshops. Even though one school day is lost when attending a workshop, faculty members from over 50 colleges and universities outside of ACCA have participated with ACCA colleges in the last school year. I n general, a group of 6 8 chemistry faculty attended each workshop. The Office of College and University Cooperation, through a grant from the NSF provides a nominal sum per session for travel and expenses. New workshops evolve each year and the present format calls for additional areas such as mass spectroscopy, single crystal X-ray diffraction and infrared-gas chromatography analysis. In general, the workshops have been over-subscribed; particularly in areas such as gas chromatography, . . . activation analysis, health and NMR. In the summer of 1966, a NSF Institute in NuclearPhvsical Chemistrv was held under the s~onsorshioof A ~ C Afor college and University facuity memders. During the summer of 1967, a two-week conference is planned on Group Theory and Symmetry for chemists. I n such programs, frequent use is made of Argonne research personnel. The OCUC (Officeof College and University Cooperation of Argonne National Laboratory) also offers research participation programs for chemistry faculty during the summer. The OCUC is presently engaged in improving the available equipment in Argonne's instructional laboratories for college chemistry staff. Plans are made to acquire equipment on loan from research divisions, and t o buy or build new equipment. The needs of equipment, the planning of new experiments, and thesis projects are greatly facilitated by use of consultants from liberal arts colleges and universities in the Midwest region. Most of the colleges involved consider this program a good one, and offer much help and advice. The future of such a program depends on the requests and the necessity for fulfilling the existing needs of faculty members and students in chemical education. Such programs should be considered for presentation in other locations across the United States. I wish t o thank J. E. Baird, Dr. Bruce Murray, and Dr. Mary Jane Oestmann from the Office of College and University Cooperation, Argonne National Laboratory for their cooperation in the preparation of this paper, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission for support of this program over the years, and the National Science Foundation.
