New NSF-funded research instrument keeps MSU at forefront of cutting-edge chemical science
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ore than a half million dollars from the National Science Foundation will provide 幺力视频 faculty members and research students a new piece of equipment鈥攁 high-resolution mass spectrometer鈥攖o strengthen research capabilities at the land-grant university and for the entire state.
The $540,737 grant is jointly funded by NSF鈥檚 Major Research Instrumentation Program, the Chemistry Research Instrumentation Program, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).
鈥淎 high-resolution mass spectrometer is a critical tool for the characterization of new chemicals that researchers in the chemistry department make for applications, ranging from improving fuels to more efficiently building pharmaceutical drugs. This same tool is also excellent for characterizing biological and environmental samples, including the detection of contaminants in water samples,鈥 said Amanda Patrick, the grant鈥檚 principal investigator and an assistant professor of chemistry.
Patrick said 12 research groups on campus have been identified as users of the new instrument. Their projects include those relevant to the production of cleaner fuels, transitioning chemical reactions to more sustainable 鈥済reen鈥 solvents like water or ethanol, and improving chemistry relevant to pharmaceutical manufacturing, among other applications.
Additionally, the instrument will be used for educational activities, training student researchers and utilized during laboratory courses.
Co-PIs on the grant include chemistry faculty members Xin Cui, Joe Emerson, Vicky Montiel-Palma and Sean Stokes.
A native of North Carolina, Patrick was named a Cottrell Scholar in 2022 and in 2021 received an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Award.
An MSU faculty member since 2018, Patrick received her Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the University of Florida and her bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemistry from North Carolina State University.
More information about Patrick鈥檚 lab and research is available at聽.
For more details about MSU鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Chemistry, visit and .
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