WEST PLAINS, Mo. — College and high school students in south-central Missouri have a new and powerful tool to use in their study of chemical compounds.
Officials at Missouri State University-West Plains recently purchased a 90 MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer with funds from a three-year, $242,790 grant from the National Science Foundation.
It was installed November 19 by an engineer from Anasazi Instruments, Inc., a leading manufacturer of spectrometers for educational and industrial markets.
The NMR spectrometer is one of the most powerful tools available for chemists to use to examine the structure of molecules, according to Dr. Joseph “Kip” Rugutt, professor of chemistry at Missouri State-West Plains and principal investigator for the grant.
Rugutt said the spectrometer also will be used in the bioinspired initiative Undergraduate STudent Achievers in Research (USTAR), which promotes student participation in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities at the university and area high schools.
Rugutt said it is quite a coup for Missouri State-West Plains to receive the highly-competitive NSF grant from its Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program.
For more information about the grant and the spectrometer, contact Rugutt at JRugutt@MissouriState.edu. For more information about the academic programs available at Missouri State-West Plains, visit wp.missouristate.edu or call 417-255-7955.
