College of Micronesia-FSM
News & Information

Thursday, November 13, 2008 3:00 pm

Chemistry professor and students hold open lab at National campus

The chemistry instructor and students held an open lab exhibition at the National campus for public viewing on November 4, 2008.

The open laboratory experiment was witnessed by members of the faculty, staff and student groups as well as visitors at both the 9:30 am and 12 pm sessions.

According to chemistry professor Anca Dema, chemistry is “the air you breathe, the water you drink, the ground you walk on, anything you can touch or see or smell.” She said that chemistry plays a central role in the other sciences and technologies. Dr Dema also said that biology, anatomy and physiology, nutrition, physics, microbiology, fisheries and all the other sciences are related to chemistry.

Spectators at the open lab sessions were able to witness real-time chemical reactions and were also able to share the excitement with Dr Dema and her students.

Dr Dema wanted to emphasize that studying chemistry can also be fun. Spectators were stunned to see the wonders of chemical reactions being carried out in front of their own eyes.

“We can have fun in chemistry, we can share the knowledge and excitements with our students,” said Dr Dema. According to Dema, chemistry is part of our lives and is useful in the ongoing efforts to tackle global problems like the energy crisis, cleaning of the environment and in finding new or improved cures for illnesses.

The open lab was the second exhibit since the last exhibit over ten years ago.

Introduction to chemistry is a 200-level course offering which enables students to investigate the fundamentals of general chemistry and organic chemistry while emphasizing the role of chemistry in modern human life.

END

Open Chemistry Lab at COM-FSM/ National

National Campus Chemistry students prepare experiments.

Dr. Anca Dema, second from right, inspects her students' work.

Student finally creates a luminous chemical reaction.