Background:
Keene State College is a four year, primarily undergraduate, degree
granting institution in the state of New Hampshire and a member of the
University System of New Hampshire (USNH). The chemistry department is
housed on the second floor of the science building, which includes the
disciplines of Biology, Geology, Physics, Computer Science, Enviromental
Science and Geography. The science building, built in 1968, will be
undergoing a major multi-million dollar expansion/renovation within the
next 4-6 years. The chemistry department occupies about 8,500 sq. ft.
with approximately 1,000 sq. ft. devoted to research in the current
building. It is the only college or university, public or private, in New
Hampshire, Maine, or Vermont with an active crystallographic laboratory
and associated crystallographer. Many faculty members of the flagship
research institution at Durham, NH (UNH) and at nearby quality private
institutions (including Dartmouth College, Smith College, College of the
Holy Cross, and Clark University) have routinely collaborated with
undergraduates and Dr. Jasinski at Keene State on chemical problems of
mutual interest involving crystallography during the past decade.
Visitations by collaborating mentors and their students have been a common
practice in the recent past.
Since its creation in 1990, when the New England Molecular Structure
Center (NEMSC) within the Department of Chemistry was created at Keene
State College under the direction of Dr. Jerry Jasinski, over 600 x-ray
crystallographic structure determinations with more than 100 collaborators
from all parts of the world have been completed with in the context of an
undergraduate teaching/research enviroment.