Maria Grace Javier
Salpointe Catholic High School
Microwave Spectroscopy Measurements of Spectra and 3-D Structures of Hydrogen-Bonded Complexes
Q. Tell us about your school.
I work at Salpointe Catholic High School, a private school in Tucson. I teach five classes, three honors -- three biology classes and two chemistry classes. I teach 9th graders in the honors biology classes and chemistry to the upper classmen. There are about 30 students in each class. That's a lot of kids.
Q. What excited you the most about your research experience?
This summer I was fortunate enough to work with Dr. Kukolich's lab, which deals partly in chemistry and partly physics. It's a good blend of the two. I was able to work on the Fourier Transform Microwave Spectrometer, a pulse-beam device with a homodyne detection system. I had two objectives during the year: The first was to synthesize deuterated propelic acid. I did this with an undergrad, Spenser Carey.
Q. Why do you need it deuterated?
If we just have the plain molecule without the isotopic substitutions, we're not going to be able to measure the different bond angles and the different spectroscopic lines. We need isotopic substitutions to be able to do that.
The second objective is to use microwave spectroscopy to detect the lines and transitions for the deuterated propelic acid. One of the systems being studied in the Kukolich Group is the propelic acid/ formic acid. They wanted to come up with a 3D molecular model showing accurate structures for the hydrogen bond angles and bond lengths. The lab focuses on hydrogen-bonded molecules because they're similar to the hydrogen bonding in our DNA. Eventually they would like to have somebody apply this work to biological systems and perhaps shed some light on genetic mutations.
Q. What are you taking to the classroom from your experience?
The best part of this lab is that we have classroom experiences apart from the lab experiences. We have a microwave spectroscopy class, and it really helped me to realize how important it is to encourage the kids to ask questions. When we were doing all these calculations about angular momentum and other things, most of the time I felt like oh my goodness, I don't want to ask this question, I don't want him to start over from scratch, but I really can't understand this. So I learned it's really important to encourage the kids to do that. The other thing I'm taking to the classroom is a realization of the importance of including symbols that will let students see that the molecules we're discussing are not just planar, that they're 3D. Also, I'm really excited about going back to the classroom because Dr. Kukolich‘s excitement about this research is contagious. It really shows through in everything he does. This has been really a good thing for me, so thank you for giving us this opportunity.
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