Science Inventory

1997 SOUTH CAROLINA EPA/EPSCOR PROGRAM—STRATEGIC IMPROVEMENT PLAN (SIP) AND MANAGEMENT

Impact/Purpose:

The 1997 South Carolina U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)/Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) consists of a SIP and two SEER projects. Three major objectives to effect permanent improvements in the State’s capability to conduct nationally competitive environmental research are addressed: (1) faculty development, by building multidisciplinary/interdisciplinary teams of researchers working toward a common research goal; (2) human resource development, by the implementation of K–16 outreach activities and a Graduate Fellowship Program; and (3) bridging of State/Industry/University science and engineering environmental interests, by involvement of science policy and research professionals from each of these sectors. The two SEER projects are in the general areas of studies of the impact of sediment contaminant mixtures in estuarine ecosystems and development of risk assessment models for environmental contaminants.

Description:

The SIP of the 1997 South Carolina EPA/EPSCoR Program encompasses the educational programs and management components.  The educational activities are addressed in terms of pre-college, undergraduate, graduate, and public science programs.  These results are summarized below.

Pre-College Programs

High School Summer Research. The 1997 South Carolina EPA/EPSCoR Program provided a number of outreach programs for pre-college students.  The High School Summer Research (HSSR) program provided a summer research experience to high school students under the mentorship of a faculty member conducting a significant portion of their research within the mission of the EPA.  The purpose of the program was to:  (1) provide a quality environmental science or engineering research experience for high school students, (2) increase involvement of the 4-year and teaching institutions where there is a paucity of EPA-funded research, and (3) involve the prestigious South Carolina Governors School for Science and Mathematics in the EPSCoR program.  The program involved students from eight different high schools and the research was conducted at the three major research institutions (Clemson University, the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of South Carolina), and five 4-year or teaching universities.  Research was also conducted within the Department of Natural Resources and at the Westinghouse Savannah River Company.  The program had 62% female participation and accomplished the stated goal of providing a research experience for at least eight African-American students.

An exit poll of the students who participated in the program revealed the following:  91% of the participants believed the program helped them to gain a better understanding of the research process, and an even greater number, 95%, stated that they were satisfied with the program and felt that it had provided a valuable experience.  Only 72% felt that the experience helped them to decide on a choice of major upon entering college, but 89% felt that the experience helped them to discover new skills and abilities, helped them to gain self confidence and responsibility, and improved their study habits.

High School Teacher Research and High School Curriculum Development.  The impact of contaminants in the environment cannot be understood without an understanding of the functioning of cells.  In turn, these cannot be understood without understanding the role of proteins and amino acids.  Curriculum development to introduce students to the concepts of chromatography, proteins, and amino acids was initiated at Mount Pleasant High School in Lee County, South Carolina.  Dr. Earl Lewis, a Ph.D. chemist and science instructor at this high school, initiated the curriculum development program and insured that it was well integrated with the “inquiry based” curriculum development activities ongoing at the state level.  This proved an excellent site for the pilot study.  This geographical region of the state has little or no educational lineage, is designated “rural” by the state, and the selected school has 100% minority enrollment.  Other high school teachers conducted research within the laboratory of a faculty member.

Undergraduate and Graduate Programs

Undergraduate Research Program.  The undergraduate research program was designed to encourage highly motivated undergraduate students to make the transition into graduate school after completion of an undergraduate program in science, mathematics, or engineering.  For the first year, a research experience was provided for 14 students within major environmental science or engineering laboratories.  In its second year, the program was expanded to include 43 new participants, with the majority of the support coming from non-Federal sources.  Thirty-seven percent of the participants were African American or Hispanic, and 67% were women.

Some impact statistics are available for this program and are impressive.  Caroline Parler, a senior at the University of South Carolina, received a Rhodes Scholarship, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious scholarship available to American students.  Parler graduated from the South Carolina Honors College in December 1999 with Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the College of Engineering and Information Technology.  In October 2000, she will begin her studies at Oxford University, England in biomaterials research.  After earning her degree, she plans to return to the United States for her Ph.D. studies.  Parler also was the recipient of a Barry M. Goldwater scholarship for undergraduate research in science and engineering in 1998.  The National Science Foundation awarded its competitive Graduate Research Fellowships to Parler and William Henley, also a graduate of the South Carolina Honors College at the University of South Carolina.  Henley received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, conducting his undergraduate research under Dr. Hans-Conrad zur Loye and Dr. John Ferry (new hire under SEER #1, R826399E02), faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.  He also received the Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Fellowship as an undergraduate.  Henley will complete his doctoral degree in analytical chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he has received the Venable Fellowship.  Both Parler and Henley attribute their success in these high competitive national and institutional scholarship programs to their participation in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences program provided by the EPSCoR award.

An exit poll of the students who participated in the program revealed the following:  85%of the participants believed the program helped them to gain a better understanding of the research process and 80% believed the active hands-on participation will help their performance in future laboratory classes in science, math, and engineering.  Only about one-half of the participants felt that the experience helped them to decide on a choice of graduate school major, but greater than 70% felt that the experience helped them to discover new skills and abilities and helped them to gain self confidence, responsibility, and improved study habits.

Environmental Science Fellowship Program.  This program, which provided $1000–$2000/student as a supplement to their research assistantships, was highly successful in the first year.  Two of the five participants supported in the first year received major national awards that were directly attributable to the Fellowship experience.  Jeanne Jennings received the Presidential Award in Green Chemistry and P. V. Sundareshwar received the “First Prize” for the Best Student Poster at the 1999 National ASLO Meeting.  For the second year of the program five additional students were selected to receive the Fellowships.  One hundred percent of this year’s participants are women.

Graduate student Barbara Bach was supported as she continued work on her thesis entitled, “Analysis of the Process of the Establishment of a Marine Sanctuary in South Carolina.”  Ms. Bach’s thesis research is being conducted as partial fulfillment of the Master of Earth and Environmental Resources Management (MEERM) degree offered by the School of the Environment at the University of South Carolina.  Graduate student Ms. Naethong was supported as she continued work on her Master of Science in Public Health at the University of South Carolina.  Ms. Naethong conducted her research on the toxicology of endosulfan in fiddler crabs with Dr. Geoff Scott (SEER #2, R826399E03) of the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research at Charleston with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Ocean Service (NOS).  Graduate student L. Kong, a Ph.D. Candidate in Chemistry at the University of South Carolina, received a Fellowship to attend the 220th ACS National Meeting in Washington, D.C. (August 20–24, 1999).  Ms. Kong is conducting her research under the guidance of Dr. Ferry, the new tenure track faculty hired under the auspices of the EPSCoR award.  Graduate student Susan Glenn, also of the Chemistry Department at the University of South Carolina, received a Fellowship to present an abstract entitled “The development and application of lifetime based, fiber-optic imaging pH sensors” at the 50th Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy in New Orleans March 12–17, 2000.  Graduate student Kristine Eland, also of the Chemistry Department at the University of South Carolina, received a Fellowship to present an abstract entitled “Design and evaluation of fiber-optic LIBS probes using dual laser pulses” at the 50th Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy in New Orleans, March 12–17, 2000.

Curriculum Development.  Dr. John Ferry, the new tenure track faculty member hired under the auspices of the award, has worked on developing three new classes:  Chemistry 729, a Special Topics Environmental Chemistry graduate course covering the chemistry of reactive transients in environmental systems (this course had the two highest enrollments for a 700-level course in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina each time it was taught); Chemistry 623, a senior level course in the fate and transport of organic materials between the aquatic, atmospheric, and soil compartments in the environment; and Chemistry 624 (the 624 effort was spearheaded by Tim Shaw [see SEER #1, R826399E] and he is likely to be its instructor), which is the 623 analogue focusing on inorganic materials.  Chemistry 623 and 624 are being used to pursue American Chemical Society (ACS) certification for an Environmental Chemistry bachelor’s program.  

URLs/Downloads:

Final Progress Report

Record Details:

Record Type:PROJECT( ABSTRACT )
Start Date:03/01/1998
Completion Date:08/31/2000
Record ID: 207925