Faculty and students take analytical chemistry course to China

2012-01-06

R. Graham Cooks, the Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Chemistry, and Zheng Ouyang, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, led a bioanalytical instrumentation summer course at Tsinghua University in China.

The course focused on mass spectrometry and was taught by Cooks and Ouyang, along with Purdue chemistry faculty members W. Andy Tao, an associate professor of analytical chemistry and chemical biology, and Yu Xia, an assistant professor of analytical chemistry.Hao Chen from Ohio University and Linjun Li from University of Wisconsin were also members of the teaching team.

More than one hundred students and researchers from ten Chinese universities and research institutes participated in the course. The Tsinghua program also included study abroad, workshop, and research fellowship components.

Nine Purdue students participated in the study abroad opportunity which included coursework, workshops, and visits to Chinese research, industrial, and cultural sites. And three Chinese undergraduates were invited to come to Purdue and work with research groups during the summer as International Summer Undergraduate Research fellows.

Yu Xia, one of the course instructors, believes there are several benefits of offering this class abroad. “Purdue undergraduate students gain global experience and Purdue gets the opportunity to attract high quality students from China,” she said.

The Tsinghua Project was funded by Purdue’s College of Science, Global Engineering Program, and International Programs, along with several Chinese funding agencies.