Signature Polytechnic Experience (PolyX)

Students in Inorganic Chemistry & Spectroscopy Research will learn advanced techniques for advancing fundamental chemical understanding with relevance to pollution remediation, pharmaceutical development, and nuclear waste remediation. Students will work on independent projects as part of a supportive and collaborative team with synergistic projects and common goals. Through mentorship by the research advisor, students will learn organic and inorganic synthesis, air-free synthesis, characterization methods, scientific writing, scientific presentations, and more! Students tackle novel problems and disseminate their work through poster presentations or oral presentations at local, regional, or national conferences and in written work through reports, theses, and peer-reviewed publications.

Program evaluation is an interdisciplinary skill set. It can be applied to most fields to gather information and provide feedback about the effectiveness of a program, project, event, practice, etc. In this team-oriented course, students will learn the fundamentals of program evaluation (including its purpose, components, and logic) and work in permanent teams to apply evaluative thinking across multiple activities and projects based on real-world materials. With instructor supervision, teams will communicate with a campus partner (from a center, program, or department) to identify an evaluation project, develop surveys and interviews, collect and analyze data, and write and present a report. In summary, this course provides students the opportunity to work in teams to conduct evaluations and gain research experience.

This course examines the historical and contemporary issues of social and structural barriers that led to the loss of cultural and traditional practices, inadequate access to healthy foods, poor health, diminished life expectancy, and healthcare disparities among the Native American and Latin American communities. In addition to classroom learning, students will have the opportunity to learn about food insecurity issues, food deserts, and health disparities by conducting hands-on learning. Students will conduct interviews with people from a marginalized culture and learn their perspectives about healthy lifestyle/eating and how the social and structural determinants impact their ability to access healthy eating options. They will assess the food security status of their interviewees by using the USDA food security questionnaire. Students will examine food access issues across the US by exploring the USDA's Food Atlas maps. They will conduct ethnic food store/ local convenience store tour stores in the area of their choice, determine the types of foods sold (staple foods, any traditional ethnic ingredients, produce, etc.), and compare the prices to foods sold in hypermarkets / larger food stores. Students will research measures taken to reduce racial, social, nutrition, and health disparities. Through these activities, students will enhance their knowledge about food, nutrition, and health disparities in marginalized communities.