Equipment: Equipment to Expand HBCU Undergraduate Instruction in Forensic Toxicology & Drug Chemistry

The National Science Foundation Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) supports projects that enhance undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and research at HBCUs, as means to broaden participation in the nation's STEM workforce. This project aims to transform academic offerings by advancing knowledge, particularly in forensic toxicology (the study of poisons) and drug chemistry, as students work in conjunction with supporting forensic laboratories. This HBCU-UP equipment award provides Lincoln University (PA) with funding to support the purchase of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer which will be integrated into instrumental analysis, drug chemistry, and toxicology laboratory course for undergraduate students. Through this project, students will learn how to use the instrumentation to process routine case samples as well as to conduct novel research alongside forensic practitioners. Students will gain foundational skills necessary to excel in forensic science graduate programs and crime laboratory work settings. Used in conjunction with liquid chromatography for forensic toxicology or atmospheric pressure direct ionization sample introduction for analysis of controlled substances, students will gain experience on modern, state of the art instrumentation comparable to what is utilized in forensic laboratories and/or graduate programs. This equipment and the research it will support plays a key role in expanding student and faculty training opportunities and research in the Undergraduate Center for Forensic Science at Lincoln University (PA), thus expanding the research capacity at an HBCU in alignment with the goals outlined in the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.