#04-99
April 12, 2004

By Stephen Snyder

GSW Chemistry Department upgrades equipment

AMERICUS--The Georgia Southwestern State University Chemistry Department has a new component for peering inside the smallest of structures. The updated equipment for the existing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectrometer allows students to examine the nucleus of atoms and determine their molecular structure, while defining the carbon and hydrogen framework of molecules. 

Department professors said this is an update from a donated piece of equipment from the 1960s and it consists of software and a computer to run the machine. As a result of this additional technology, students in the Chemistry Department will be able to test chemical compounds that they produce in their various lab and lecture classes. In the past, students could only look at numbers that were printed off of a database. Now, they can generate their own spectrum, thus generating their own numbers. 

The Chemistry Department was in need of and had desired this updated software and equipment for many years, but the $70,000 was only recently available. 

"It's a plus for students going into industry, and for ones going into graduate school," said Gregory D. Thomas, Ph.D., assistant professor of Chemistry. Since experience plays a large role in obtaining many jobs, having access to the NMR could potentially open several doors for GSW chemistry students, he said. 

This updated piece of equipment will also provide new opportunities for the Chemistry Department. According to Thomas, having this equipment in house will increase the Department's attractiveness to potential students, and some grants may be easier to obtain.

PHOTO AVAILABLE

Eye For Imaging--Michele Smith, Ph.D., of the GSW Chemistry Department, places an organic compound in a tube inside the NMR Spectrometer for analysis.

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