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  • Synchrotron X ray absorption student projects in community college and gateway for chemical engineering related education
Title: Synchrotron X ray absorption student projects in community college and gateway for chemical engineering related education
A Synchrotron radiation student project in our community college consists of data collection, data analysis, and discussion which includes the formulation of a new hypothesis. Although the on-site data collection at National Labs such as NSLS II at BNL, Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source are limited by the Synchrotron beam time availability students were able to participate on site data analysis from previously collected data. The data analysis component fully engages the students in Extended X ray Absorption Fine Structure(EXAFS), X ray absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES), and X ray absorption pre edge feature analysis. These tools were used to analyze microstructure of iron and zinc compounds in a variety of samples. In EXAFS experiments data consists of absorption coefficient of element under investigation versus X ray energy at the vicinity of an absorption edge and about 200 eV below & 1000 eV above the edge energy. Analysis of EXFS data yields the amount of the element under investigation and structural parameters such as oxidation state, near neighbor bond length, number of near neighbor atoms and disorder. The advantage of this method is minimal sample preparation and no chemical treatments to samples. The pedagogy encourages mindful reading of the latest Synchrotron based research articles with faculty guidance to build a relationship to a chemical engineering related education. The pedagogy of using the Synchrotron radiation student projects in community college has been found to broaden the prospect and build connections to chemical engineering related education in the senior college setting. The data analysis steps of several different material and structure interpretations will be presented.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2150404
PAR ID:
10593167
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
ASEE Conferences
Date Published:
Format(s):
Medium: X
Location:
Fairfield, Connecticut
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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