Clark’s chemistry program received a $134,750 grant from the National Science Foundation.

    Nadine Fattelah, principle investigator and co-division chair of physical sciences and physics said that the chemistry department will receive the grant in July 2008, and will purchase a new Fourier-Transform Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (FT-NMR) spectrometer that will be available for student use as early as fall quarter 2008.

    “It will be super exciting and a great opportunity to learn,” Clark student Jimmy Green said. “I think it will further my understanding of chemistry.”

    Fattelah said, “This is pretty much where current chemistry is, it’s one of the main instruments used.”

    Fattelah said Clark has a spectrometer that is approximately 35 years old and not very user-friendly. “Only select students get to use it,” Fattelah said. “The new device will make it so that more students will get to use it.”

    Clark chemistry professor Ali Aliabadi said, “Grants help provide the opportunity for purchasing equipment among other things within the chemistry department that will be of service to our students.”

    Fattelah said the device will strengthen Clark science courses and probably aid students transferring to four-year universities. The new instrument will benefit students majoring in the sciences, engineering, premed and prepharmacy. “General chemistry and organic chemistry students are expected to have experience with this device,” Fattelah said.

     "Many community colleges don’t even have this instrument,” Fattelah said. “Not many students have access."

    Green said, “I think it will make me more competitive when I transfer to a four-year university.”

    Fattelah said the FT-NMR spectrometer will probably be stored between the chemistry lab and organic lab in APH 120C. Renovations are scheduled for this summer to get the device up and running.

    Fattelah said that the chemistry department will strengthen existing courses for now and then re-evaluate new chemistry course opportunities at Clark in the future.

    She said, “The spectrometer is the chemistry version of an MRI.” Fattelah said that the FT-NMR spectrometer exposes chemicals to an electric field which allows researchers to identify unknown substances.

    Aliabadi said the grant "will help provide hands-on learning so they (students) can be more competitive and knowledgeable in the real world.”

    “It’s a very revealing technique -- it gives students a complete picture,” Fattelah said. “We hope to develop new experiments to give insight on how two pieces of a protein fold together.”

    Fattelah said the department hopes that the instrument will help to bridge the connection among biology, chemistry and other sciences offered at Clark.

    Fattelah said that the original proposal to get the grant for the instrument was due a year ago, and revisions to the proposal took place last October. The proposal was sent to the National Science Foundation and also to United States Representative Brian Baird, who represents the third congressional district. Baird supported the grant.

    He said in a quote published by The Columbian on May 5, 2008, “The National Science Foundation provides vital grant funding for students interested in strengthening their skills in the fields of science, mathematics and engineering.”

    Fateelah said she wanted to give credit where credit is deserved and said that co-principle investigators were Karl Bailey and Susan Brookhart. They were also assisted by former Clark grants developer Kitty Brokaw.