59th Annual Report on Research 2014

Impact on the PI’s Career - New Research Directions

X-ray diffraction has been critical in the identification of the new compounds and complexes that have been the objective of the original ACS-PRF proposal. In Summer 2013, Dr. Hurst attended the American Crystallographic Summer School at North-western University in Evanston IL. This course enabled her to refresh her X-ray diffraction knowledge and meet other researchers interested in undertaking X-ray diffraction work at undergraduate-oriented institutions. As a result of the contacts she made, she was invited to the MIT-Bruker X-ray Diffraction Symposium in February 2014 where she was able to meet with active crystallographers, instrument vendors, and other research active inorganic chemists. Thus this funding has positively shaped the PI’s future research and career directions.

Impact on the PI’s Career - New Research Collaborations

As part of the above plan to obtain a single crystal X-ray diffractometer Dr. Hurst assembled a collaborative team involving research-active faculty from NAU, Fort Lewis College (Durango, CO) and Dixie State University (St. George, UT). Another positive outcome of Dr. Hurst’s sabbatical was the establishment of an active research partnership with Prof. John Lee of the University of Tennessee (Chattanooga) for the X-ray analysis if samples from the Hurst laboratory (See Figure 1). Dr. Hurst also established a cooperative agreement with Dr. Jeanette Krause of the University of Cincinatti SCrALS group, and which provides access to the Advanced Light Source synchrotron in Berkeley, CA. This allows the study of crystals that are too challenging (e.g. too small) to be studied by conventional instruments. This collaboration would not have been possible with the current funding.

Impact on the PI’s Career - New Grant Proposals

The National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation (NSF-MRI) program is a major funder of new instrumentation. The results from the ACS-PRF award have been critical in establishing a rationale for this new instrument proposal. Dr. Hurst organized the Colorado Plateau Crystallography Consortium (CCPC) to attempt to obtain a single-crystal X-ray diffraction instrument (Proposal budget of $286,326). Dr. Hurst invested hundreds of hours of her sabbatical time in Fall 2013, unfortunately this proposal that ultimately did not go forward to the NSF. This was due to a decision from the Office of the Vice-President for Research at NAU not to put forward the CCPC proposal to the NSF MRI program due to limited solicitation slots. Dr. Hurst intends to submit another NSF MRI when the request for proposals is issued again in November 2014.

Over Summer 2014 Dr. Hurst prepared a sole-investigator proposal for the NSF Chemical Synthesis program for September 2014 submission (Proposal budget of $213,351). If funded, this award will allow for the continued development of this research area that was initiated by the ACS PRF grant.

Dr. Hurst also submitted several smaller funding requests. Although her application in April 2014 for the Lucking Family award was declined, she was awarded CEFNS funding to travel to the ACS biannual conference in San Francisco in August 2014. This internal funding augmented the existing travel funds that are part of her ACS PRF award and achieved the goal outlined in the original proposal of effectively disseminating her research results.

Impact on the Discipline of Chemistry

The work that has been funded by ACS-PRF and carried out by Dr. Hurst has had positive impacts on the discipline of chemistry in numerous ways. Because she has been able to stay “research relevant”, she was invited to serve as an NSF reviewer for the Chemical Synthesis (CHE SYN) program in February 2012. This involved reading, reviewing and summarizing multiple proposals and serving as part of the two-day NSF panel. She also read and wrote an assessment of a Ph.D. thesis (328 pages) from the Australian National University in September 2013. In addition she read and reviewed four scientific manuscripts from a number of inorganic chemistry journals over the previous 12 months.

Impact on the Careers of Undergraduate Students

In previous years a large number of undergraduates have been employed on this research project. The majority of these students have gone onto graduate or scientific careers. These include John Charbonneau (Thermo-Scientific), Scott Folkman and Annalise Nunn (Graduate School in Chemistry – Colorado State University), Layla Qasim (Graduate School in Chemistry – Tulane University) and others. After her sabbatical year Dr. Hurst has begun rebuilding her undergraduate driven research laboratory by the recruitment and training of sophomore student Samantha Kruse.

Impact on Broader Society via Outreach Activities

Dr. Hurst was involved in a large number of outreach activities related to her ACS PRF funded research. These include invited talks at Fort Lewis College (Durango, CO), Dixie State University (St. George, UT) and at the local “Science on Tap” night (Flagstaff, AZ). She participated in the STEM showcase at the University Dome, the Mock Emergency training, the Chemistry Banquet, and the Chemistry Magic Show. She gave presentations at the Gordon Inorganic Research Conference and the National ACS Meeting in San Francisco, CA. All these presentations acknowledge the support of the ACS PRF in the appropriate manner.