Undergraduate Research Experiences in the Penn State University Crop and Soil Sciences Quality Lab

Douglas D. Archibald, Ph.D., dda10@psu.edu, 814-865-8449

There is no complete substitute for learning by doing, especially if it comes with the satisfaction seeing the application of your scientific or technological skills produce a useful new result. The research conducted in my laboratory provides a variety of opportunities for undergraduate jobs that provide experiences in development or application of chemical analytical methods. I firmly believe that what you learn through involvement in analytical methods research will have a positive impact on just about any scientific or technological career path that you choose to pursue. Moreover, with some guidance it is very likely that your efforts can produce a positive research impact as well, and it can be very satisfying to make a contribution to the body of knowledge. Also, the process of discovery and invention can be fun and intellectually stimulating in various ways, be it an important problem to ponder, use of sophisticated instrumentation, or the application of an interesting phenomenon.

Will you be able to do it? Courses in chemistry, biology, mathematics, agriculture, environmental science and engineering will help you, but I have no doubt that almost any undergraduate can make a contribution to laboratory research if they put their mind to it. Research is not an exam problem with only one solution; the trick is to be open to new ideas and industrious in use of your particular skills and abilities. I consider it part of my role to help you understand your palette of skills and abilities and come up with projects and strategies that help you develop and apply yourself to a technical problem that interests you. Personally I find it very rewarding to see the growth of students that results from their work on projects.

Undergraduate research projects can be developed in any of the problem areas that I work. My tool-based research program covers five broad areas within application of analytical chemistry in crop, soil and environmental sciences:

  • plant tissue evaluation
  • fat quality assessment for commodities
  • fungal toxin analysis
  • soil organic matter evaluation
  • analytical laboratory training and education

You could also choose to build your project around one analytical tool or research skill area:

  • spectroscopy
    • infrared
    • UV-visible
    • NIR
  • chemical analysis
    • extraction / fractionation / purification
    • chromatograpy
      • HPLC
      • GC
    • Surface structure/dynamics
  • laboratory and process automation
    • computer control/robotics
    • computer interfacing/ergonomics
    • macro/script programming
    • database programming/management
  • data analysis
    • chemometrics (an area of applied mathematics)
    • spectral interpretation
  • web-documents for training and education

Depending on research needs, student interest, and the availability of funding, student project work can be done for academic credit, to fulfill a Work-study grant, as a wage-payroll job, or solely for experience. Students who are highly motivated to pursue a research experience should contact me by e-mail or telephone to learn about current opportunities.