Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

The Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at UMass Dartmouth provides an excellent education, preparing its students for careers in industry, forensics & teaching, as well as further education in graduate, medical, veterinary, dental and pharmacy school.

The department has a very active research program, which includes the Cranberry Health Research Center. There are active research projects in all five divisions of chemistry (analytical, biological, inorganic, organic, & physical). Graduate students can conduct their research as a student in the M.S. or the Ph.D. program. For undergraduates, research is a required component of the degree program and one of the greatest tools in preparing our graduates for future employment and further education.

Please look further into our:

Undergraduate Programs

Graduate Programs

Events

Nov

3:30PM

Trail Clearing

Join the Green Navigators in clearing the brush and overgrowth trails on campus! Please check the address notes for the location. Gloves and equipment will be provided. It is recommended that participants wear long pants, long sleeves, or a sweatshirt, and at minimum close-toed shoes, as well as bring water. Sticker(s) Available: Trail Clearing Contact bbarreraguerrero@umassd.edu for meet-up times and locations.

Cedar Dell

Nov

12:00PM

ECE Seminar* Speaker: Dr. Lora Van Uffelen, University of Rhode Island (URI)

Topic: Geo-Positioning with Underwater Acoustics in a Changing Arctic Speaker: Dr. Lora Van Uffelen, Associate Professor, Department of Ocean Engineering with joint appointment with the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island (URI), South Kingstown, RI Location: Science & Engineering Building (SENG), Room 222 Abstract: We have constant access to accurate geo-positioning on our ever-present mobile devices courtesy of electromagnetic signals from GPS satellites. Vehicles navigate using these signals on the roads, in the air, in space, and on the seas. These signals are quickly attenuated below the sea surface, however, complicating geo-positioning for vehicles and other platforms under water and under ice. Low-frequency acoustic signals can travel for hundreds of kilometers in the ocean, offering an acoustic analog to GPS. In recent decades, warming of the surface layers of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic has led to the formation of a subsurface acoustic duct which enables sound transmission to longer ranges. Here we explore the use of acoustic signals for vehicle geo-positioning in the Beaufort Sea as well as across the Arctic Ocean, and the impact of ocean temperature structure on the propagation and interpretation of these signals. Biography: Lora Van Uffelen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ocean Engineering at the University of Rhode Island with a joint appointment in the Graduate School of Oceanography. She has a PhD in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography and is a recipient of the 2023 Early Career Faculty Research and Scholarship Excellence Award at URI in Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering. Dr. Van Uffelen is interested in acoustic propagation and the effects of oceanographic variability at long ranges. She is particularly interested in acoustic receiving on mobile platforms and the use of long-range acoustic signals for underwater positioning. Her recent work focuses on sound-propagation in the Arctic. In addition to mentoring graduate students, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in underwater acoustics and ocean engineering. The Seminar is open to the public free of charge. *For further information, please contact Dr. John R. Buck via email at jbuck@umassd.edu.

Science and Engineering Building

Nov

5:00PM

Sustainability Movie Series: Burning

Grab a snack as you learn about climate change, sustainability, and everything in between through the Sustainability Movie Series here on campus held by the Office of Campus Sustainability. Movie Synopsis: In Burning, Academy & Emmy-award winning Australian filmmaker Eva Orner takes an unflinching look at the unprecedented, catastrophic Australian bushfires of 2019-2020 and shines a light on the global issue of climate change. The documentary delves into the disaster that unfolded across Australia, analyzing the irreversible damage, and the roles played by the federal government and media. Sticker(s) Available: Sustainability Movie Series

Charlton College of Business, Room 149

Nov

7:00PM

Observatory Open House

Observatory Open House No Moon - Saturn, Jupiter & Uranus

Hirshfeld Dowd Observatory

Nov

10:00AM

ECE Department: ELE Master of Science Thesis Defense by Christopher Gravelle

Topic: Experimental Demonstration of Sound Source Bearing Estimation at a Single Receiver Using Spectral Cues Location: Lester W. Cory Conference Room Science & Engineering Building (SENG), Room 213A Abstract: Traditionally, bearing estimation of a sound source is accomplished by exploiting relative time differences of arrival across an array of sensors. For scenarios where arrays of sensors cannot be effectively utilized due to size or cost, an alternative method for source localization must be considered. Yovel et al. [Science, 2010] discovered one such method when observing that bats steer the main response axis (MRA) of their echolocation beams askew of a target. While this strategy reduces the SNR of a received echo, it paradoxically improves the Fisher information about a target's bearing angle. This trade-off suggests there are spectral cues which improve target localization despite the lost signal power. For a single sensor with far-field frequency-dependent directivity, and a known broadband waveform of finite temporal support and sufficient SNR, it is possible to locate a sound source by the angle-dependent lowpass filtering of the signal at the receiver. Furthermore, there exists an angle which minimizes the bearing angle estimate that is near to, but not coincident with the main response angle of the receiver. This thesis presents experiments demonstrating a man-made system estimating a source's bearing from signal spectral information using a single directional sensor with frequency dependence over the bandwidth of the received signal. A linear FM chirp from a source in the far field is recorded, measuring the beampattern of the receiver. Maximum likelihood estimates (MLE) of source bearing are calculated in a Monte Carlo algorithm, comparing noise-corrupted recordings to a randomized dictionary of template recordings. Mean-squared error (MSE) is computed as a function of source angle and compared to the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB). Experimental results support that the MSE is not proportional to angle-dependent SNR, rather there are local variance minima away from the receiver MRA where the received signal power is attenuated. The MSE local minima are consistent with optimal angles observed in previous studies simulating the exploitation of spectral cues on target localization [Kloepper et al., JASA-EL 2018] [Tidwell & Buck, IEEE SSPD 2019]. Advisor(s): Dr. John R. Buck, Chancellor Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, UMASS Dartmouth Committee Members: Dr. Dayalan P. Kasilingam, Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, UMASS Dartmouth; Dr. Paul J. Gendron, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, UMASS Dartmouth NOTE: All ECE Graduate Students are ENCOURAGED to attend. All interested parties are invited to attend. Open to the public. *For further information, please contact Dr. John R. Buck email at jbuck@umassd.edu Zoom Conference Link: https://umassd.zoom.us/j/91744864902 Meeting ID: 917 4486 4902 Passcode: 844492

Science & Engineering Building, Lester W. Cory Conference Room: Room 213A

View Full Calendar

Last modified: Tue, Jul 7, 2020, 05:50 by Daryl Poeira

Check My Status

myUMassD

umassd.edu