Aug. 29, 2007
ROCK HILL, S.C. - The National
Science Foundation recently announced that a team of chemistry researchers from
Wake Forest University, Winthrop University, and Western Carolina University
has been awarded a three year, $299,840 NSF Homeland Security Academic Research
Initiative grant. The main objective of
the proposed research is to develop a portable device designed specifically for
the detection of radiological species. The goal is the production of the first
handheld portable atomic emission spectrometer capable of simultaneous multi-
element analysis at part per billion concentrations. The device will employ a
tungsten coil extracted from a light bulb and powered by a car battery. Samples
deposited on the coil will emit characteristic spectra that are collected by a
handheld spectrometer.
The
Co-PI for
this effort is Dr. Cliff Calloway, Winthrop University Associate Professor of
Chemistry. Dr. Calloway will be
primarily responsible for design and construction of the proposed equipment,
including but not limited to the physical fabrication, optical design and
construction, electrical wiring & power, computer interfacing and computer
programming. He will work closely with and advise graduate and undergraduate
students on instrument characterization and application projects, with emphasis
on incorporation at the undergraduate research level. He will help oversee
summer day-to-day laboratory operations at Wake Forest University.
The PI for this effort is Dr. Brad
Jones, a Professor of Chemistry at Wake Forest. The project will involve Ph.D.
students from Wake Forest University, M.S. students from Western Carolina
University, undergraduate researchers from Winthrop University, and a
world-renowned expert from an institution in a third world country: the Federal
University of Sao Carlos, Brazil. The successfully developed tungsten coil
spectrometer will be marketed by a capable and successful instrument
manufacturer, Teledyne Leeman Labs (NH).
Construction and fabrication
facilities available at Wake Forest University will aid the Co-PI in developing
a working instrument system available for use at Winthrop University during the
academic year. The Winthrop system will be used to direct an undergraduate
research project each academic year. One
Winthrop University undergraduate student will be in residence at Wake Forest
University each summer for eight weeks, along with the Co-PI. The undergraduate student will continue work
at Winthrop University during the academic year, receiving academic credit for
research.
Dr. Calloway has been a member of
Winthrop’s chemistry faculty since 1995.
He also is currently chair of the Piedmont Section of the American
Chemical Society, a group of nearly 1,000 professional chemists in the
Charlotte, western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina regions.