Richard "Doc" KieftThe Richard “Doc” Kieft Endowment, established by a former Monmouth chemistry professor, allows our department to support up to a dozen students on campus for summer research each year and take up to 16 students per year to the National American Chemical Society meeting to present their work.
Another former professor, W. S. Haldeman, endowed the department with a library fund that provides access to research journals, book and periodical publications, and the latest in chemistry and scientific software. We’ve got it all.
We believe undergrad research starts in your first year not in your third
Research instills scientific confidence and independence in our students. It enables them to apply and broaden their knowledge learned in the classroom. And it’s an invaluable way to strengthen scientific communication skills.Our latest Keift Scholars with our chemistry faculty.
Students are required to register for two semesters of research and spend at least one summer in a Research Experience for Undergraduates program at a research university or in our “Doc” Kieft Summer
Research Program.
Students in off-campus summer programs
Seth Croslow ’21 – Boston College
Esther Hubbard ’21 – Saint Louis University
Katie Richter ’21 – Northern Illinois University
Julia Sterr ’21 – Rural Health Professions Summer Preceptorship
Labs and equipment
Alumnus William LeSuer provided an instrumentation endowment, which allows the department to purchase, on average, a major piece of instrumentation each year. There isn’t much our students can’t do in our lab spaces. They have the opportunity to be truly creative and innovative when designing experiments, since resources will never be a barrier.
Small school, big resources
Wide range of spectrometers
Spectrometers are used to measure the spectral signatures of components within a mixture. Spectrophotometers specifically measure electromagnetic radiation (light – ultraviolet, visible or infrared). Our different instruments are capable of studying: atoms, light, electrons, nuclei and mass.
Atomic Absorption Spectrometer – Varian AA240FS with graphite tube atomizer
Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectrometer – Bruker EMX X-Band
Fluorescence Spectrometer – Perkin Elmer LS-55
Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer – Griffin 450 with gas sampling port and X-Sorber portable SPME sampler
Infrared Spectrometer – Thermo Nicolet Nexus 470 FT with ATR attachment
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer – Varian 360A FT 60 MHz
UV/Vis Spectrometer – Agilent 8453
UV/Vis Spectrometer – Thermo-Fisher Nano Drop One
Several chromatographs
Chromatography is common way in which components of a mixture are separated. Different instruments can be used to purify compounds on a preparatory scale, separate compounds on an analytical scale, or study the ions present in a mixture. We have:
Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer – Griffin 450 with gas sampling port and X-Sorber portable SPME sampler
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph – Waters Breeze 1525 with dual wavelength detector, column heater, and autosampler
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph – Viscotek GPC with refractive index detector
High Performance Liquid Chromatograph – Agilent 1100 HPLC with Diode Array Detector (190 nm - 850 nm)
Ion Chromatograph – Thermo-Fisher Dionex Aquion
Specialty instruments and equipment
Monmouth also uses some instruments that have particular roles, such as measuring the heat or energy of a reaction, or the surface tension of a layer of compounds.
BioRad Electrophoresis systems for Agarose and Acrylamide Gels
Bomb Calorimeter – Parr Instruments
Electrochemical Potentiostat – Pine Wavedriver 10
FiberCell System (Duet P3202)
High Fire Kiln – Paragon, used for making materials like ceramics
High Vacuum Schlenk Line
Langmuir Troughs – Kibron LB (we have two) and G2 (one)
Plate reader with incubator/Shaker – Used for monitoring cell growth
Maker space tools
Recently we have been branching out into the maker space (spearheaded by physical chemist Brad Sturgeon). Our maker space includes:
Glass Blowing Equipment
Laser Cutter/Etcher – Full spectrum 40W CO2 Laser
3D Printers – Prusa MK2S FDM (we have two), Prusa MK2S Multimaterial (one) and FormLabs Form2 SLA (one)
Career opportunities
Orthopedic Surgeon, Pharmacist, Analytical Scientist, Forensic Scientist, Wildlife Biologist, Research Scientists, Lab Technician, Beverage and Applications Technologist, Chemistry Professor, K-12 Science Teacher.
