Dr. Frank Gomez Awarded Grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation

Frank A. Gomez, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, was recently awarded a grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to educate tomorrow’s leaders in the interdisciplinary field of paper microfluidics. The $375,000 grant aims to engage more than 1,500 undergraduate students annually in the research of paper microfluidics to contribute to solving real-world scientific problems focused on point-of-care diagnostics, fuel cells, and environmental testing and analysis. The three-year grant will focus on transforming current curriculum and generating new knowledge by developing and integrating course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) into courses in the University’s Departments of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Biological Sciences. In this interdisciplinary project, students are learning in an environment that is informed by research, scholarship, and up-to-date practice and knowledge. Emphasis is on research processes and problems. Students are active participants and teaching and learning is student-focused. Students conduct group work and collaborative projects as part of newly designed research projects. Learning is research-project-based and students are learning how to conduct research and be a researcher. Gomez was interviewed and highlighted in the Orange County Register (http://www.ocregister.com/articles/paper-728320-based-microfluidics.html) for this project.