Dreyfus Foundation Grants $30,000 For Spectrometer

The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation, based in New York City, has awarded Westmont a $30,000 matching grant to enhance the capabilities of its nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, which will improve students’ ability to do first-rate research.

"The NMR spectrometer enables us to teach students how to apply high-field (300 MHz) NMR to a wide array of experimental situations using inquiry-based teaching throughout the curriculum,” Chemistry Professor Stanley Anderson said.

“An important outcome will be that students can creatively apply ‘real world,’ state-of-the-art NMR technology to their undergraduate research, and, later, to lab problems they will face in graduate studies and industrial practice.” The funds will go toward the purchase of an automatic sample changer, a new computer operating system and a faster sample probe, Anderson explained. Westmont, a liberal arts college similar to Pomona and Claremont-McKenna, has a long tradition of fostering undergraduate research in the sciences, a feature that ensures acceptance for many of our graduates into the best graduate schools in the country.

For more information on the grant and the chemistry program at Westmont, contact Professor Allan Nishimura at (805) 565-6188, or e-mail nishimu@westmont.edu.