Jordan Boothe, assistant professor of chemistry at Pitt-Greensburg, was awarded an NSF Major Research Instrumentation award of $156K to acquire a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer to support undergraduate research at UPG. The spectrometer allows students to identify molecular markers that affect the genetic characteristics of cells. This is only the fifth NSF award UPG has ever received.
“One of the great parts about being part of the Pitt system is that all of the research equipment at the Oakland campus is usable by those of us at the branch campuses,” says Boothe. “We just need to make an appointment to use the NMR. I’ve been able to bring student samples to discover if the sample had impurities—even if it looked clean via other methods. That’s a crucial step in identifying a {new} molecule.”
But with a two-hour drive both ways to Pittsburgh, the process was time consuming and took time away from the students’ other schoolwork. In his grant application, Boothe made the case to NSF a lower-powered NMR available would be a valuable asset to students on the Greensburg campus.
The new 100MHz spectrometer is much smaller than instruments available on Pitt’s Oakland campus, but it has many advantages.
The Greensburg NMR does not require costly maintenance like the liquid nitrogen and helium needed to cool the superconductive magnets. Essentially, it plugs into a 120 Volt socket and is ready to use. The instrument features a user-friendly touch screen that can be used in teaching labs and for undergraduates to conduct their own experiments. For faculty with heavy teaching responsibilities, many or their research opportunities involve collaborations with students.
Boothe’s grant application also addressed the broader impact of the research possibilities for a small undergraduate campus situated in rural region of Pennsylvania—approximately and 19 percent of the enrollment is from rural areas, with nearly 40 percent eligible for Federal Pell Grants. In a school of approximately 14,00 students, Boothe estimates that 171 students a year would be impacted by the NMR grant, including students in research programs, chemistry courses, instrumental analysis and biochemistry labs.
“We made the case that as a primarily undergraduate teaching institution, our mission is first and foremost providing our students with skill sets to be successful in the future,” Boothe explains. “We can use hands-on learning on the instrument to reach a significant population of undergraduate students.”
Boothe’s grant was a “limited submission” grant, meaning that Pitt was limited in the proposals it could submit for this award. Pitt Research conducted an internal review and vetting process and determined Boothe’s application to be the University’s designee for the funding opportunity. Pitt Research’s research development team and Office of Sponsored Programs support all investigators by helping them identify grant opportunities and awards, providing guidance on the process and reviewing and editing applications. For questions about support with grants and awards, please contact research@pitt.edu or researchdev@pitt.edu.