Instructor: Dr. Philip J. Silva, 024 Widtsoe, 78192, psilva@cc.usu.edu

Prerequisite:  Chem 6600 Modern Chemical Analysis or consent of the instructor (A basic knowledge of analytical chemistry is assumed).

Text: none

Course Content: This graduate level special topics course is an in-depth examination of the analytical chemistry of chemical species of environmental concern.  The course will include a mix of lectures and reading of current literature to examine the standard methods and “state-of-the-art” for detecting and quantifying chemical species in air, soil, and water.  Each student will also write a paper and give an oral presentation on a topic of his or her interest for the class.

Grading:  There will be 2 midterms, worth 20% each, and a cumulative final worth 30%.  The remaining 30% of the course grade will be derived from a paper and an oral presentation in front of the class.  The paper and presentation may be on any subject of the student’s interest.  The subject must be related to environmental analytical chemistry.  Issues of interest might be on a particular pollutant that has received significant attention, a particular method that is promising when applied to a certain species or class of species, or on an emerging compound or class of compounds for which techniques are needed but generally not available.

Student Disability: Students with a disability that requires accommodations must contact the instructor.  The Disability Resource Center must document the disability.

Tentative Lecture Schedule:

Jan 6: Introduction, Sampling of chemical species, Data Treatment
Jan 13: Review/overview of analytical methods, reasons for choosing a technique
Jan 20: Soil-Overview, Sampling, Regulations
Jan 27: Soil-Inorganic Species
Feb 3: Soil-Organic Species, Exam 1
Feb 10: Water-Overview, Sampling, Regulations
Feb 17: Water-Inorganic Species
Feb 24: Water-Organic Species
Mar 3: Water-     Biological Species, Paper/presentation topic due
Mar 10: No Class—Spring Break                        
Mar 17: Air-Overview, Sampling, Regulations, Exam 2
Mar 24: Air-Gas-phase inorganic species
Mar 31: Air-Gas-phase organic species
Apr 7: Air-Particle-phase species
Apr 14: Chemical species in multiple media, Species of future interest
Apr 21: Student presentations, Paper due
Apr 28: Final Exam-cumulative including topics from student presentations


Journals:  An important part of this course will be the research, reading, and understanding of current journal articles in the content area.  This will be extremely important in preparing the paper/presentation that is required.  Below is a listing of relevant journals that may be of interest.  As the area of environmental analysis spans many disciplines including chemistry, environmental science, and engineering, this list is by no means exhaustive.

Journal                                                                                                                                USU Holdings

General

Soil

Water

Air

This page was last updated:  January 3, 2003
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