A Virtual Instrumental Analysis Laboratory (VIAL)
for Buffalo State and Open SUNY
Jinseok Heo, Alexander Nazarenko, M. Scott Goodman, and Jamie Kime
Department of Chemistry, Buffalo State College
AIMS of the PROJECT
ABSTRACT
o Aim 1.
To effectively educate students to use modern analytical instruments by
combining virtual and hands-on lab experiences
o Aim 2.
To provide learning opportunities with advanced analytical instruments
to students, faculty, and staff at other SUNY institutions
o Aim 3.
To provide professional training on data acquisition and processing to
the local scientific community (Future)
o Aim 4.
To investigate the feasibility of remote control of advanced analytical
instruments (Future)
We present the development of a Virtual Instrumental Analysis Laboratory (VIAL) platform for
Buffalo State and SUNY campuses. We will report the effectiveness of the VIAL for students’
gaining knowledge and skills in using advanced analytical instruments that were newly acquired in
the Department of Chemistry at Buffalo State College.We will also show the possibility of remote
controlling of the analytical instruments, so that off-campus users can directly benefit from our
advanced facilities.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
What is Analytical Chemistry?
Instrumental analysis
Wet analysis
PROPOSED IDEA
RESULTS
Creation of video tutorials on analytical instruments
Four faculty experts participated in this project
Dr. Jinseok Heo for Thermo DXR Raman microscope (5 tutorials)
Dr. Jamie Kim for Agilent GC and GC-MS and Shimadzu GC (3 tutorials)
Dr. Scott Goodman for Bruker Avance III NMR (in-progress)
Dr. Alexandaer Nazarenko for Bruker D8 Venture X-ray diffractometer
(in-progress)
Video tutorials created by Heo and his student
Buffalo State CHE 403 course materials posted in Blackboard (Spring 2014)
Qualitative
Analysis
Quantitative
Analysis
Skills and knowledge required for instrumental analysis
Knowledge of
the principles
and the
hardware of the
instrument
Acquisition of major analytical instruments
with the opening of new science building
at Buffalo State in Spring 2013
Reliable data
Troubleshooting for
the instruments
On-line tutorials on analytical instruments (AIMS 1 & 2)
 Include descriptions of the underlying principles of the analysis,
sample preparation steps, instructions on the software for
acquiring and processing data, demonstrations of running the
instruments, and simple maintenance procedures.
 Use animation, video clips, on-line test, and webinar
 Available through Blackboard and eventually available through
SUNY digital repository
Live demonstrations of the equipment with audio, video,
and screen-sharing tools (AIMS 1 - 3)
 Include live demo and recording for later viewing on campus
 Can be extended to off-campus scientific community in future
Remote control of analytical instruments (AIM 4)
Buffalo
State
Campus
Knowledge of the
software for the
instrument
Control
Other
SUNY
Campus
Collect, process, and
analyze data
Buffalo
State
Campus
Skills of using
software package
for plotting graphs
and treating data
statistically
Data
Present data
On-site education and
training?
Students
Service?
User
Instrument A
Lab Manager
Sample
OPEN SUNY?
Other SUNY
Campus
WNY
community
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
IITG 2013 Grant
Megan Niesyty, Jennifer Gibson, and Anna Copelad
(Buffalo State Students)
Assessment of the effect of video tutorials on students’ skills on
analytical instrument
 Assessed 11 students enrolled in CHE 403 (analytical instrument) class of
Spring 2014
 Two analytical instruments were chosen. One lab experiment (Raman
lab) was provided with video tutorials but the other lab (IR lab) was with
a conventional lab manual format.
 Compared the class average scores of the two lab reports
 At the end of the semester students’ performing skills on the two
instruments were assessed and the class averages for the two
instruments were compared.
We did not find any statistical difference between the Raman lab and the IR
lab from the perspective of lab report scores and practical lab skills.
Managing the analytical lab was much easier after introducing the video
tutorials. Interacting with broader groups of students were made possible.
Live demonstration of analytical instrument
using remote desktop connection
In-class demonstration of Ft-IR instrument
located in other lab.
The instrument could be controlled by
the in-class computer through remote desktop
connection.
CONCLUSIONS AND PLANS
o VIAL platform is potentially useful for helping students acquire skills
and knowledge required for analytical instruments but more data is needed
to make a decisive conclusion.
o More video tutorials will be incorporated to assist lab courses at Buffalo
State and will be available through SUNY digital repository.
o We demonstrate that analytical instruments can be remotely controlled
on-campus. Theoretically off-campus users may access to them.