Chemistry Projects 2009

From the Periodic Table to the Kitchen - Investigation of household chemicals for incorporation into the middle and high school curricula

Faculty Mentors - Samuel Hudson, David Saiki

All too often, Chemistry and Chemical research is seen as a mysterious activity relegated to obscure labs using 'black-box type instruments' not to really be understood by the public or especially students. The purpose of this project has been to 'strip-away' some of the veils that get in the way of understanding this "central science". In this project, students and teachers will develop a series of demonstrations and experiments that use cheap, commonly available items that ably demonstrate many scientific principles. In addition, teachers and students will work together to create a lab manual to take back to school and home. This manual will address California Science Standards for each demonstration and is intended to be a resource that teachers and take and use in the classroom. This year's experiments include but are not limited to: coffee cup chromatography, DVD spectrometer construction, atmospheric chemistry experiments, testing for iodide in table salt, fingerprint experiments, magic sand experiment, a vitamin C clock experiment, and the construction of a solar cell.

Biological Prospecting of Medicinal and Culinary Herbs

Faculty Mentor - Roy LaFever

Throughout human history plants have been utilized in myriad of ways. Humans' consumptive use of plants range from staple foods and culinary flavorings to herbal and pharmaceutical preparations. The herbal and pharmaceutical preparations from plants have been used to treat a wide variety of health concerns. CSUB presently has a state of the art greenhouse facility which is used to grow a number of medicinal herbs for research purposes. The focus of this research is two-fold. First to examine the constituents of these plants through chemical means, and secondly to screen plant extracts for important biological activities. This type of research is ideally suited for a small group, or team. A group of 2-3 secondary students and a team leading educator will cultivate medicinal herbs in the greenhouse and produce extracts from the plants for chemical analysis. This analysis will identify and quantify the isolated constituents in preparation for carrying out biological activity assays. The assays will examine antibacterial activity, antioxidant potential, and anticancer activity. The latter assays will be carried out in conjunction with Dr. Ravi Patel of the Comprehensive Blood and Cancer Center (CBCC) here in Bakersfield. The skills obtained by carrying out this research will include basic chemical skills and laboratory techniques as well as hands-on experience utilizing sophisticated analytical instrumentation. In addition, the assays designed to screen for biological activities will expose the team to a highly interdisciplinary project that bridges the disciplines of chemistry, biochemistry, and biology.