Washington Division of URS and Washington Savannah River Company Purchase Spectrometer in Support of new
“STEM” Initiative at USC Aiken
December 20, 2007
Washington Division of URS and Washington Savannah River Company have made a significant gift to the University of South Carolina Aiken to create a permanent endowment to support a new STEM Initiative. Funds from the endowment will be used to encourage education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The first of these funds was recently used to purchase a spectrometer for the Department of Chemistry and Physics at USC Aiken. A spectrometer is an optical instrument used to measure properties of light.
“This spectrometer is used extensively in the organic chemistry lab for structural identification of molecules by students who will one day be chemists, biologists, physicians and pharmacists. This past semester we had 56 students in the organic chemistry lab. The purchase of this new instrument will ensure that those students will receive training on the most modern and up-to-date instrumentation available,” said Dr. Monty Fetterolf, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Physics, “I know the spectrometer benefits not only our majors but all of the other disciplines that rely on a strong organic chemistry background. Only at a smaller university such as USC Aiken would undergraduate students have the opportunity to train on such a fine instrument. The department is truly appreciative of this donation.”
“Washington Division of URS has consistently supported educational initiatives that will help us identify and support the workforce of the future. There will be an ongoing need for more students in scientific disciplines, and we hope this helps encourage those students who are both interested and capable,” said E. Preston Rahe, Jr., President of Washington Division of URS’s Energy and Environment Business Unit.
According to Leo Sain, President of Washington Savannah River Company, “USC Aiken has always been an excellent partner. We have always recognized the quality of their work, and we’re pleased to see that they’re gaining broader recognition for the value of their programs. I think this investment has the potential to provide dividends not only for us, but for the region as well.”
Dr. Chad Leverette (far left) and Dr. Monty Fetterolf (third from left) of USC Aiken discuss plans for the spectrometer with David Best, principal scientist with Savannah River National Lab, and USC Aiken Chemistry Intern at SRNL, Ms. Whitney Thomas.
