College of the Rockies chemistry students benefit from partnership

College of the Rockies Chemistry 101 students (back - front) Lucas Remple-Hockey, Jack McDougall, Stephanie Bohn, and Connor Gustafson watch an atomic absorption spectrophotometer in action as it tests their solution samples at Thompson Rivers University.

College of the Rockies chemistry students got a chance to use technology to complete a recent experiment thanks, in part, to Thompson Rivers University (TRU) and the BC Integrated Laboratory Network (BC-ILN).

The BC-ILN, launched in 2006, began with the goal of providing access to instruments from TRU while also determining if remote instrument use provides a valid learning experience for the student participants.

College of the Rockies’ students, in an effort to determine the iron content in a multi-vitamin, began the experiment at the Cranbrook campus where they prepared a sample from the vitamin tablets. The sample was then sent to the TRU campus where an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) analyzed the solution.

Using Skype, COTR students were able to see the atomic absorption spectrometer in operation through one computer while controlling the analysis of their samples through a second computer.

“This is a great opportunity for us to compliment an existing lab at the College with the use of an instrument smaller institutions don’t often have access to,” says University Studies Coordinator and Chemistry instructor David Dick. “We look forward to offering this opportunity to our students again next year and we will explore the possibility of adding new experiments.”

To learn more about the experiment watch this video.
To learn more about University Studies courses at College of the Rockies click here.