Teaching

This course provides an overview of the principles, methods, devices, and applications used in modern laboratory instrumentation: theory of instrumental methods in qualitative and quantitative analysis; determination of structure; atomic and molecular spectroscopy; electrochemistry; X-ray; NMR; mass spectrometry; chromatography separation.

—Taught in Fall semesters for undergraduate students

This is an advanced analytical chemistry course with a focus on mass spectrometry (MS) related techniques and their biomedical applications: Basic concepts in mass spectrometry; ionization methods; mass analyzers; Tandem MS (CID, HCD, ETD, MRM, PRM); hyphenated MS (GC-MS, LC-MS, CE-MS); MS data acquisition; spectrum interpretation; peptide sequencing; proteomics; metabolomics; lipidomics; glycomics; hands-on omics data analysis; protein interaction; stable isotope labeling; Ion mobility MS; MS imaging; clinical MS; disease biomarker discovery. 

—Taught in Spring semesters for graduate students

This is an introductory analytical chemistry course that covers the fundamental principles and methods of quantitative chemical analysis: experimental error; statistical analysis; calibration curve; chemical equilibrium; titration; electrochemistry; spectroscopy; mass spectrometry; chromatography; sample preparation.

—Taught in Spring semesters for undergraduate students

This course is taught virtually during the pandemic. Virtual lab experiments on ChemCollective website are used to learn laboratory techniques and methods in quantitative analysis and data analysis. Scientific writing is also taught as the WID (Writing in the Discipline) component. Students design DIY experiments that can be performed safely at home to apply the principles of quantitative analysis and write an ACS style manuscript with several rounds of peer-review and one-on-one revisions.

—Taught in 2021 Spring semester for undergraduate students

This course was featured on GW News in 2021.
Undergraduate student publications from this course:

• M. Shlafstein, E. Hannah, L. Hao, “Determining the Ethanol Concentrations in Ethyl Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers with Different Expiration Dates Using Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR)”. ChemRxiv. 2021.
• P. Parel, L. Burnett, M. Geoffroy, J. Parel, L. Hao. “Determining the Acetic Acid Concentration in White Vinegar: An At-Home Undergraduate Chemistry Experiment During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” ChemRxiv. 2021.