Winthrop Chemistry Faculty Receives NSF Research Grant (8/19/03)

On August 18, 2003, the National Science Foundation announced the awarding of a $99,963 grant to Wake Forest University for support of the development of a "Portable Spectrometer for Nuclear Forensics."  The project will be under the direction of Dr. Bradley T. Jones, Professor of Chemistry at Wake Forest University, and Dr. Clifton P. Calloway, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Winthrop University.  This award is effective September 1, 2003 and expires August 31, 2004.

The proposed project is to develop a novel, low cost, portable instrument for the simultaneous determination of trace radioactive elements in nuclear forensic samples.  This would be a fast response detection system that would be available to use in assessing the extent of contamination in the event of a terrorist-activated Radioactive Dispersion Device.  This instrument would be useful in allaying public fear in the broader region where radioactivity is difficult to measure, but trace amounts of the agents might still exist in soil, dust, water, and crops.

Dr. Calloway will act as the Co-Pi for the project and will be in residence at Wake Forest University during summer 2004.  Dr. Calloway will focus his attention on the instrumental development aspects of the project and will help with the transition towards a prototype system.

Dr. Calloway received his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Wake Forest University and has been a member of the Winthrop faculty since 1995.  Dr. Calloway was the PI of an earlier NSF grant that established a molecular modeling center at Winthrop and was the first co-PI of an NSF grant to develop high-field NMR across the undergraduate curriculum.  Dr. Calloway has also been particularly active in the American Chemical Society's Piedmont section that includes Charlotte, upstate South Carolina, and western North Carolina.  Dr. Calloway has recently served year-long terms as treasurer, chair-elect, chair, and past-chair of the Piedmont ACS section whose membership includes nearly 1000 professional chemists in the central Carolinas region.