Are you interested in getting research experience in chemistry?  Such experience can be very important contribution toward getting into good graduate school or external internship programs.  I have worked with over 20 undergraduate research students in the last 8 years on projects dealing with various aspects of inorganic chemistry including studying the DNA-cleaving properties of metal complexes in the presence of light, the bioinorganic chemistry of metallomelanins, the synthesis of photoactivated iron MRI contrast agents, and the chemistry of photography.  My current project bridges the areas of inorganic chemistry with a new field known as "green chemistry," a field that is concerned with developing environmentally friendly chemical processes. We are currently interested in synthesizing new transition metal-lanthanide complexes in ionic liquid systems.  For more information about the project, you can read a more detailed research summary online.

What do you need to have a successful undergraduate research experience with me?  I take students of any early level (freshmen, sophomores, and juniors) to start research because I am not worried about your previous chemistry courses as much as your commitment to learning from the experience.  I will either teach you what you need to know or provide you with appropriate reference material.  My students go on to present their work at a numbers of external and internal poster sessions (come up to the third floor in Julian to see examples of my students' posters!).  In the process they gain experience in inorganic synthesis, modern spectroscopic and analytical techniques of all kinds (NMR, IR, UV/vis, magnetic susceptibility, X-ray crystallography, thermogravimetric analysis, and others), finding chemical information resources, and in preparing their results for oral or written communication.   They develop critical thinking skills as they learn to interpret sometimes ambiguous results. In short, they gain practical hands-on training in an exciting new area of chemical research and experience the successes (and failures!) of anyone working in research in the chemical sciences today.

I am anxious to get students to work on these projects!  If you think you might be interested in working on this project, read a little further, to see if you are well suited for this project and if you are interested contact me to set up an appointment to talk about possible research projects.

My expectations:

Students should plan on working on a project for more than just one semester or one summer.  The projects require a lot of specialized training and both the project and the student benefit if more than just one exposure to the material occurs.  Students frequently think that the more things that pad their resume the better off they will be when they apply to grad school, med school, or an external internship.  However, programs easily recognize the difference between a sustained project that has resulted in mastery (and external presentations and/or publications) versus a simple exploration that is only superficial.  I will write a much more meaningful recommendation letter for a student who has done research with me for three academic semesters and two summers, and has coauthored a paper and presented at a National American Chemical Society Meeting than someone who has worked with me for only one Winter Term.

Students must enroll for at least 1/2 credit of undergraduate research (Chem 395) in a semester if the student has not worked for me previously in a summer project or during the year (including SRF first year seminar).  I also strongly encourage even students who have worked for me before to sign up for at least that much credit.  This number of credits of undergraduate research translates to 5 hours a week in the lab plus any additional outside reading or preparation (total of approximately two afternoons or mornings a week in lab plus prep time).  In the semester prior to signing up for Chem 395, a student should meet with me to make sure that their schedule of classes, extracurricular activities, and work responsibilities and my schedule make this time commitment possible.  I believe that it is difficult to get a meaningful experience from less than this number of hours.  Ideally a student should sign up for a full credit (9 hours of lab work a week) so that it can take the place of one of their classes rather than tacking it on as an overload.

Summer research is a full-time endeavor--40 hours a week for 8-10 weeks (with pay prorated appropriately).  I will not take a student for the summer who is taking a summer course at another institution or who has other commitments that would prevent them from working these hours. Prior to a summer, I will post the dates for my summer research project for the following year. (Note: No Research during Summer '07 because of my sabbatical)

The chemistry curriculum is demanding so I realize that all students have their "week from hell".  I have no problem with you studying the day before a big test and missing your time in lab as long as you make up the time later.  If you fail to make up the time it will be reflected in your grade.

You must keep a good notebook.  The first task for a new student in my lab will be to repeat part of the work a previous student did before them based on the previous student's notebook entries.  The new student will have permission to call you and bug you until they can repeat your results.  If you want to move on to your next project in peace and quiet, you need to make sure your notebooks are complete and accurate!

If you do research with me during the summer, you will prepare a poster of your work to present at a local American Chemical Society Poster Session. This is extremely helpful because you get to present to undergraduate colleagues from across Indiana as well as faculty and industry participants.  If your research is significant enough, we may be able to have our abstract accepted to present at a National ACS Meeting.  Recent sites of that meeting have included Orlando, Boston, New Orleans, and San Francisco!  Abstracts are due at the beginning of November and the beginning of April each year, so that means you need enough results by that time to qualify.  You will also prepare a written report of your results which will serve as a starting point for new students who take over the project after you are gone.  This is excellent preparation for the kind of scientific writing that all kinds of scientists do!

If you do research during the academic year, you will be expected to present a 15 minute formal talk in the Chemistry Department Seminar Series (and you will be evaluated by the other faculty members on this talk and the accomplishments of your research).  You will also write a final written report that will serve future students as outlined in the paragraph above. More information about standards is available here.

Lastly, I hope that a successful research student will help to recruit(!!) and train a new student before they go off to do wonderful things in the wide wide world!  This is a great mentoring opportunity for the older students and a way of ensuring continuity in the group's research.