LSSU to host conference for nuclear magnetic resonance educators

Nuclear magnetic resonance may sound like a high-tech, specialized medical procedure to most people, but U.P. high school and college students are going to be finding out it's not beyond their classrooms, with the help of an education conference planned at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie.

The conference, "Boot Camp for Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Educators," is May 23 and 24, and is open to high school and college educators who use NMR concepts in any of their classes. It will include demonstrations of modern instrumentation and will be an introduction to the principles of the technology for those with little or no experience.

"Two nationally known experts with extensive experience in teaching NMR concepts to students and instructors will make presentations," says R. Marshall Werner, LSSU associate professor of chemistry. "The two-day conference is supported by seven national and international corporate sponsors, including NMR instrument manufacturers, chemical companies, and educational equipment suppliers."

Nuclear magnetic resonance technology is similar to magnetic resonance imaging, often called MRI in medical contexts.

"The measurement technique used by both NMR and MRI rely on fundamental properties of atomic nuclei," Werner says. "This conference seeks to address some of the challenges in teaching the difficult and somewhat abstract concepts related to the properties of atomic nuclei, such as atomic spin and magnetic moments of nuclei such as hydrogen, carbon, fluorine, and phosphorus, to name a few."

Keynote speakers at the conference will be Joseph Hornak of Rochester Institute of Technology and John Glushka of University of Georgia, who each are recognized as experts on NMR education. For more information or to register, visit LSSU's conference website.

Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: R. Marshall Werner, Lake Superior State University