UCI Research Facilities

Chem-SURF Fellows will enjoy the Chemistry Department's state-of-the-art laboratories and instrumentation facilities. Many instruments are set up for hands-on training and use by undergraduates. In addition to the state-of-the-art instrumentation available within each of the UCI research groups, Chem-SURF Fellows will have access to a variety of state-of-the-art research facilities, including:

Laser Spectroscopy Facility: Ten laser systems, including several high-power tunable solid-state laser systems for non-linear spectroscopy applications, such as ultra-fast time regime, coherent Raman- and multiphoton ionization spectroscopy.

Mass Spectrometry Facility: Six instruments that can study molecules as light as gases or as massive as proteins and polymers; a very unusual feature is that four of the mass spectrometers are student-operated and are available on a 24/7 basis.

Molecular Modeling Facility: A full suite of software running on SGI and Sun Ultra graphics workstations.

NMR Facility: Five high-resolution instruments, including a 600 MHz spectrometer, two 500 MHz spectrometers (one of which is equipped with a highly sensitive cryoprobe), and a solids NMR instrument; a separate 800 MHz NMR facility is available to all users for biomolecular NMR and other challenging problems.

X-Ray Crystallography Facility: State-of-the-art Argonaut Nautilus synthesizers.

Material Characterization Center

The UCI Science Library is one of the largest consolidated science, technology and medicine libraries in the nation. It is part of the University of California Digital Library Initiative and offers a wide range of print and electronic information resources, including an impressive level of access to online journal and database searching from campus computers, permitting students easy access to the scientific literature from their research laboratories and rooms.   
  
The UCI Campus

UC Irvine is in the heart of sunny Southern California, famous for its perpetually sunny and spring-like weather. UCI’s location offers students an unlimited number of local spots and activities to enjoy. The campus is five miles from the Pacific Ocean, so students are moments away from swimming, surfing, sailing, fishing and sunning. Local deserts and mountain resorts are all within driving distance, as are local museums, sports venues, concert halls, zoos, and theme parks, including Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Sea World, Magic Mountain, and Wild Rivers. Beautiful Catalina Island is just offshore and a short boatride away. 

The UCI campus itself is also designed to provide a dynamic environment for students. The circular campus design integrates natural open space with the modern architecture of the academic, research and administrative structures. Buildings encircle the 21-acre Aldrich Park, and the campus itself is a natural arboretum planted with trees and shrubs from all over the world. Ring Road, a mile in circumference walkway circling Aldrich Park, is the pedestrian thoroughfare that connects the classrooms, eateries, libraries, laboratories, and housing. The Ring also serves as the outdoor staging for a full calendar of cultural and social activities. Bike trails connect UCI to student housing and to the beach, and pedestrian bridges connect students to local movie theaters, restaurants, shops and businesses.
  
  
The UCI Research Environment

Founded in 1965, UCI has built a reputation as a top-tier research university that attracts the nation’s brightest students and faculty. U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks UCI among the best public universities across the nation, and was one of 63 universities elected to membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities. In 2005, U.S. News and World Report ranked UCI as having one of the top Academic Programs focused on Undergraduate Research and Creative Projects. UCI’s graduate programs were also ranked among “America’s Best Graduate Schools.” 

One of the distinguishing factors in UCI’s rankings have been the campus’s prominent faculty. UCI’s faculty is continually recognized on international levels for their contributions and research. UCI was the first public university with faculty who received Nobel Prizes in two different fields-chemistry and physics-in the same year. A third Nobel Prize was granted in 2004 in the field of chemistry. 

Programs like the NSF-funded Chem-SURF REU site are among a multitude of research opportunities for undergraduate students at UCI. The university has a strong history of involving undergraduates in faculty-mentored research, and nearly half of all graduating students have participated in an independent research or creative project. UCI students successfully compete for career and graduate studies opportunities, which is due in part to the skills and knowledge they acquire as a result of their active involvement in faculty-mentored undergraduate research and creative projects. 

The university also has a strong commitment to promoting diversity. The Princeton Review’s Best 345 College Ranking for 2003 placed UCI as number 15 in the Diverse Student Population category, and UCI ranks 50th nationwide in the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education magazine’s “Top 100” for the number of academic degrees awarded to Hispanics. Black Issues in Higher Education ranked UCI fourth in the nation for awarding bachelor’s degrees to minority students in the 2002-03 school year. UCI awards more than $1 million dollars in internal diversity fellowships directly to qualifying students each year, and administers a number of programs relevant to this application. The California Alliance for Minority Participation (CAMP) facilitates laboratory research as a path toward graduate school, and has been funded by NSF since 1991. 

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