23Western Carolina University
B.A./B.S./M.S. in Chemistry
Department of Chemistry and Physics
College of Arts and Sciences
Annual Assessment Report for 2007-2008
Primary Contact Name/Info:
Carmen Huffman (x3682, chuffman@wcu.edu)
Brian Dinkelmeyer (x3675, kwochka@wcu.edu)
Department of Chemistry and Physics
Natural Science Building
Cullowhee, NC 28723
Student Learning
Outcome(s) Assessed
in 2006-07
Independently gather,
interpret, and communicate
the results of original
research. (B.A./B.S./M.S.)
Method(s) of
Assessment
Research at WCU
-CHEM 380 (B.S.)
-CHEM 698 (M.S.)
Results of Assessment
Implementation Plan
23 students were enrolled in the
undergraduate course CHEM 380:
Research in Chemistry for one or
more semesters since summer of
2007: Megan Arrington, Dara Atkison,
Samuel Birchfield, Katie Blumsack,
Jacklyn Bush, Laura Cleveland,
Andrew Duncan, Brian Harding,
Stephanie Harper, Ben Hart, Madeline
Hill, Alisha Hunter, Collin Jones, Emily
Love, Jeffrey Lux, Tyler Melton,
Michael Moore, Emily Nantz, David
Rice, Candice Roberts, Isaac Roberts,
Michael Wilhelm, Timothy Willis.
We are very pleased with
the number of students
participating in chemistry
research with a faculty
advisor. In particular, the
number of graduate students
pursuing independent
research accounts for about
20% of our chemistry
majors. Future goals are to
increase the number of
participants even more, to
get students involved in
research earlier in their
academic career, and to
encourage students to
pursue their research
projects for at least two
semesters.
13 students are currently enrolled for
CHEM380 in Fall 2008: Jacklyn Bush,
Andrew Duncan, Sara Garrett,
Madeline Hill, Alisha Hunter, Collin
Jones, Barry McNeely, Susan
Middleton, David Rice, Brian Sneed,
Jessica Spear, Timothy Willis, and
Lucas Wilson.
14 students were enrolled in the
graduate course CHEM 698:
Research in Chemistry for one or
more semesters since summer of
2007: Alfred Appiah, Stephen Ballew,
Kyle Beard, Michelle Benoist, Chad
Brooks, Januka Budhathoki, Paul
Davis, Malia Gonzalez, Kelly
Lawrence, Sung-Gun Park, Rajendra
Uprety, Jesse Walsh, Shana
Weathersby and Michael Young.
Independently gather,
interpret, and communicate
the results of original
research. (B.A./B.S./M.S.),
cont.
Research at Other
Universities
Several students participated in an
NSF funded Research Experience for
Undergraduates in the summer of
2007. These students are involved in
research projects at other universities:
Stephanie Harper and Stephanie
Rockett (West Virginia University),
Katie Blumsack (Louisiana State
University), and Laura Cleveland and
Karla Wright (University of Wyoming).
Pursuing research at other
institutions is a great way for
students to learn more about
areas of chemistry that are
not studied at WCU. We plan
to encourage more students
to apply for such
opportunities in the future.
We are also applying for
funding to host students
from other institutions at
WCU in summer of 2008.
Seminar
-CHEM 496 (B.S.)
-CHEM 696 (M.S.)
This year 24 students were enrolled in
the undergraduate course CHEM 495:
Seminar, and each semester an
average of 11 students were enrolled
in the graduate course CHEM 696:
Seminar. In this course students were
required to give oral and poster
presentations of their research.
Each of these courses has
been taught by new
instructors this year, and
great emphasis has been
put on developing
communication skills by
including more presentations
and discussions of research
results and interpretations.
Internal Presentations
Graduate students D. Michelle
Benoist, Kyle Beard and Kelly
Lawrence presented their research at
the Graduate Research Symposium at
WCU.
Internal presentations are a
way to introduce the
successes of the
Department of Chemistry
and Physics to other
departments of WCU. We
will continue to encourage
our students to participate in
these symposia.
External Presentations
Undergraduate students Erika Sesti,
Erin Hinson, Laura Cleveland, Katie
Blumsack Kyle Beard presented their
research as posters at the Southeast
Regional Meeting of the American
Chemical Society.
External presentations are
perhaps the best way to
develop communication
skills and to share the
results of research with the
scientific community. We will
continue to pursue this
mechanism of
dissemination. However,
travel to conferences
continues to be challenging,
mostly because of
scheduling conflicts for both
students and professors.
Fortunately, funding for such
trips has been adequate.
Undergraduate students Alisha Hunter
and Katie Blumsack presented their
research orally at the National Council
on Undergraduate Research.
The research of undergraduate
student Erika Sesti was presented
orally at the Pittsburg Conference and
as a poster at the Southeast Regional
Meeting of the American Chemical
Society.
Undergraduate student Kelly
Lawrence presented a poster at the
National Meeting of the American
Chemical Society.
Independently gather,
interpret, and communicate
the results of original
research. (B.A./B.S./M.S.),
cont.
External Presentations,
cont.
The research of undergraduate
student D. Michelle Benoist was
presented at the international
conference of the American Society for
Mass Spectrometry.
See comments above…
The research of undergraduate
students Joseph Baker, Jamie Jones,
and Christopher Wilson was presented
at the 2007 Southeast Regional
Meeting of the American Chemical
Society.
A number of undergraduate
researchers presented their research
as posters at the 2007 Southeast
Regional Meeting of the American
Chemical Society: Erika Sesti, Erin
Hinson, Laura Cleveland and Katie
Blumsack.
A number of M.S. researchers
presented their research as posters at
the 2007 Southeast Regional Meeting
of the American Chemical Society:
Kyle Beard, Januka Budhathoki,
Rejendra Uprety.
The research of graduate students
Januka Budhathoki and Rajendra
Uprety was presented orally at the
Southeast Regional Meeting of the
American Chemical Society.
Publications
In 2008, the research of
undergraduate students Joseph Baker,
Christopher Wilson and Jamie Jones
and faculty member Jack Summers
was published in the Journal of the
American Chemical Society.
In 2007, the research of M.S. students
Wesley Bintz and faculty member
David Butcher was published in
Microchemical Journal.
In 2007, the research of M.S. students
Patrick Baldwin and faculty member
David Butcher was published in
Microchemical Journal.
Other research groups involving
students have articles in preparation.
We are extremely pleased to
have some publications this
year. Of course we will
continue to strive towards an
increased number of
publications. However,
faculty teaching loads are
somewhat prohibitive.
Complete a thesis that
demonstrates the ability to
create and interpret research
results specific to the field of
study thereby advancing the
state of disciplinary
knowledge. (M.S.)
Thesis and Research
Advisory Committee
Meetings
Each graduate student is required to
meet with their advisory committee
once per semester. An oral
presentation of completed research is
given, and feedback from the advisory
committee is provided.
While such committee
meetings have always been
a part of the curriculum for
graduate students, meeting
biannually was not enforced
until recently. These
meetings are now enforced
through the graduate
seminar course, CHEM 696,
and are designed to keep
students on track to
graduating in a timely
fashion. Require students to
present their work one or
more times per semester
has encouraged students to
complete their research so
that they have data to
present. Therefore the
meetings are serving their
purpose.
Thesis Proposal
Each graduate student must prepare a
written document describing their
research plans for the M.S. degree
before the end of his or her second
semester. Students submitting thesis
proposals this year include D. Michelle
Benoist, Kelly Lawrence, Shana
Weathersby and Kyle Beard
The thesis proposal helps to
direct the research of our
students. It also serves to
enhance their written
communication skills, and
give them experience with
finding and reading about
current research published
in the scientific literature.
Thesis
Each graduate student must write and
defend a thesis which describes his or
her research results and
interpretations. Students completing
the thesis this year include: R. Lee
Ritter, D. Michelle Benoist, Kyle Beard,
Michael Young, Rajendra Uprety,
Januka Budhathoki, and James
Bollick.
The thesis describes a
student’s research by
providing data,
interpretations of the data,
and meaningful scientific
conclusions. Many theses
have focused more on data
collection techniques and
the data itself than on the
interpretations of data and
meaningful scientific
conclusions. Our goal is to
encourage students to shift
the focus toward the
interpretation of results
because this will make them
better scientists.