Scott Handy

shandy@mtsu.edu

Preston McDougall

Chemistry

Discipline specific equipment

DSB 204, 205, 208

N/A

N/A

The Chemistry Department serves over 5800 students each semester – both majors as well as pre-health students and those from several other disciplines. An integral part of this education is the use of labs. Within these labs, the use of fume hoods is absolutely critical to safely handle many of the chemicals that are used. Nearly two years ago, nearly half (16 out of 35) of our fume hoods in the Davis Science Building were sealed shut as they did not function. This has created a situation where we cannot offer certain classes, have to scale-back other classes, and cannot conduct research (which is vital for undergraduate and graduate education in Chemistry). It has also placed our accreditation with the American Chemical Society in jeopardy and we could become the first TBR institution to not be accredited. The total scope of this project is too large for a single TAF proposal, so for this year we are proposing the replacement of six of the 16 non-functioning fume hoods. In specific, this will impact three lab rooms for the Organic, Quantitative Analysis, and Biochemistry lab courses, whose total enrollment is well over 800 students each year.