Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Edward Walton

Ph.D., University of Maryland

SPONSOR: Susan Buhr, CIRES Outreach

TITLE: Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds

THEME: Planetary Metabolism

The aim is to develop, and take back to my university, Cal Poly, a research program on "Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds" and how they affect the atmosphere and atmospheric conditions. This science research project includes a science education component in that a major component of the program will be the involvement of pre-service teachers in the "doing of science." The intention is to have pre-service teachers work with science majors to collect samples and generate questions and organize and analyze data. I have been using GCMS to detect and quantify VOC from selected plants under varying conditions and submitting this data to be used is modeling systems for atmospheric simulations. In addition, I have plans to develop an environmental science course for teachers.

This project has the potential to get students interested and involved in biological sciences, the biochemistry of plants, ecology, atmospheric chemistry, organic synthesis, analytical chemistry, and other research areas. The involvement of students has already begun. One undergraduate chemistry major is participating in research with Dr. Ray Fall under the " SMART" 10-week summer program and another will be participating for four or five weeks in August.