Teaching

The administration of the University and the Shared Analytical Services Laboratory consider teaching to be an important part of the Laboratorys mission. The Laboratory uses three mechanisms to fulfill this formallized teaching role.

• The Laboratory teaches individual students through the use of an Independent Study. When a portion of a faculty members research involves a specific operation or analysis in the lab, students can enroll in Independent Study. In this manner, the student can recieve credit for the training.

• The SASL provides class instructors access to equipment and instrumentation required as a portion of the class curriculum. Classes can either use a piece of equipment or instrumentation through the course of a semester or for a single demonstration period. Either the course instructor, or the Laboratory staff will assisst the students, assuming the instructor has been checked out on the equipment.

• In the past, the Laboratory has taught a full semester, laboratory based, course teaching practical analytical skills. Currently, the course is being redesigned to better suit the new role of the laboratory. The focus of this new course is to teach students, in disciplines other than chemistry, the practical skills required to use the analytical laboratory. The student can then bring these skills to bear on problems in their own discipline. There will be no prerequisites for the course.

In addition to the these mechanisms for teaching students, the laboratory is also teaches in a less formalized manner. The lab often employs students in various capacities in the laboratory. From dishwashing to going into the field to acquire samples, to preping and analyzing the samples, students receive hands on training in an analytical laboratory setting.