January 3, 2006
MeasureNet has entered an agreement with King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) of Saudi Arabia to install its network-based data acquisition system in the institution's Department of Chemistry. KFUPM will have the first MeasureNet System in the Middle East. The installation will include capabilities for shared UV-vis spectroscopy and at-station kinetics experiments.
The renown university possesses one of the most advanced training regimens in the region to meet the science, technical, and management challenges posed by Saudi Arabia's vast petroleum and mineral resources. KFUPM was created by royal degree in 1963 and originally enrolled 67 students. In 2003-04, the all-male student population reached over 10,000 individuals.
Located in Dhahran, the campus is a neighbor to key institutions including the Saudi Ministry of Petroleum and the headquarters of Saudi Aramco (which alone employs 56,000 workers in petroleum exploration, extraction, processing, distribution, and administration). The KFUPM campus has a desert climate similiar to Palm Springs, California.
"We are delighted that KFUPM's chemistry program has become a member of the MeasureNet community" said MeasureNet President Robert Voorhees. "As the preeminent science and technology institution on the Arabian Peninsula, the university's laboratories help prepare highly-skilled graduates for technical and leadership positions in the region's booming economy. I hope MeasureNet will play a key role in making the student laboratory experience even more relevant."
MeasureNet Technology Ltd. manufactures patented, network-based data acquisition interfaces for science teaching laboratories. It is a spin-off of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Chemistry and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Measurenet's award-winning, PC-reducing design helps reduce laboratory maintenance and operational costs while giving students access to high quality shared UV-vis spectroscopy and an array of innovative probeware. It's acclaimed intuitive design provides improved transparency to enable better science-focused, not technology-focused, learning. Winner of the Ohio Governor's Award For Excellence in Energy Efficiency, MeasureNet networks are found in university, community college, high school, and vocational training centers across the United States and around the world.
> View Photos of MeasureNet Workshop at KFUPM
> View KFUPM Media Release (English) | (Arabic)
For more information contact:
Len Weibel
Director of Business Development
tel. toll-free: 866-396-6765
lenweibel@measurenet-tech.com
December 21, 2005
Lourdes College of Sylvania, Ohio has chosen MeasureNet to equip its chemistry department laboratories. Lourdes is a coeducational liberal arts college sponsored by the Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania. Degrees offered include Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Individualized Studies, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Associate in Arts, Master of Education, and Master of Organizational Leadership. Located in suburban Toledo, the college's 89-acre wooded campus is home to nearly 1,800 students. Some 64% of these students are considered "non-traditional" with full-time employments and/or children. Typical classes are attractively small, averaging just 15 students per course section.
“Lourdes adoption is a reminder that you don't have to be a large program like Oregon State, Virginia Tech, or College of Dupage to benefit from MeasureNet's PC-reducing design," explains Michael Kurutz, MeasureNet's Director of Marketing. "At the end of their decision-making process, I know that instructors believed MeasureNet would enable students to better focus on chemistry without the distraction of a more complex interface."
Elizabeth Wise was the faculty point person charged with choosing a data acquisition solution for the Lourdes laboratories. Wise holds a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and her popular Chemistry of Art class provides an alternative approach for non-science majors to explore chemistry without the level of intimidation sometimes experienced in traditional general chemistry courses (Read article in the Toledo Blade).
Lourdes is the second northwestern Ohio college to adopt MeasureNet in the second half of 2005. Bowling Green State University-Firelands began MeasureNet-based instruction in the fall quarter.
MeasureNet Technology Ltd. manufactures patented, network-based data acquisition interfaces for science teaching laboratories. It is a spin-off of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Chemistry and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Measurenet's award-winning, PC-reducing design helps reduce laboratory maintenance and operational costs while giving students access to high quality shared UV-vis spectroscopy and an array of innovative probeware. It's acclaimed intuitive design provides improved transparency to enable better science-focused, not technology-focused, learning. Winner of the Ohio Governor's Award For Excellence in Energy Efficiency, MeasureNet networks are found in university, community college, high school, and vocational training centers across the United States and around the world.
For more information contact:
Len Weibel
Director of Business Development
tel. toll-free: 866-396-6765
lenweibel@measurenet-tech.com
September 28, 2005
MeasureNet has announced the adoption of its network-based data acquisition system by the Chemistry Department of Clark Atlanta University. CAU is an amalgam of the two private, historically-black institutions of Clark College and Atlanta University. CAU's 126-acre campus is located a short 1.5 miles from downtown Atlanta and is a hub for the activities of nearly 5,000 graduate and undergraduate students. CAU was ranked as one of the top ten institutions in the nation for African Americans by Black Enterprise Magazine. It was also the only private, historically-black university in the nation classified as a Doctoral/Research-Intensive University by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2000.
“We are pleased about the Clark Atlanta University adoption,” said MeasureNet President Robert Voorhees. “CAU is growing both in popularity and achievement and will benefit from strengthening student preparation for science research and employment with our instrumentation.” CAU joins the ranks of a growing MeasureNet community in the region that includes the University of Georgia, Savannah State University, Agnes Scott College, Georgia Perimeter College, Middle Georgia College, and Gordon College.
MeasureNet Technology Ltd. manufactures patented, network-based data acquisition interfaces for science teaching laboratories. It is a spin-off of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Chemistry and is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. measureNet's award-winning, PC-reducing design helps reduce laboratory maintenance and operational costs while giving students access to high quality shared UV-vis spectroscopy and an array of innovative probeware. It's acclaimed intuitive design provides improved transparency to enable better science-focused, not technology-focused, learning. Winner of the Ohio Governor's Award For Excellence in Energy Efficiency, MeasureNet networks are found in university, community college, high school, and vocational training centers across the United States and around the world.
For more information contact:
Len Weibel
Director of Business Development
tel. toll-free: 866-396-6765
lenweibel@measurenet-tech.com
July 18, 2005
Oregon State’s Department of Chemistry has selected MeasureNet Technology to supply five 12-station MeasureNet Networks to equip its General Chemistry laboratories for science majors. The systems will each include a shared UV-vis spectrometer and numerous probes including new multi-function colorimeters. The department’s General Chemistry Program hosts from 700 to 1,000 science majors in typical fall and winter quarters.
Oregon State instructor Margaret Haak directed the department’s selection process. “MeasureNet was more intuitive and we had the sense that we could do much more with MeasureNet than the Vernier System or our former Labworks interfaces,” said Haak. “But, the enthusiasm of MeasureNet personnel and their belief in the quality and integrity of their system were the most significant factors in our decision.”
Located in Corvallis Oregon, the university granted its first degrees in 1870. Its unique science resources include the Linus Pauling Institute, the Center for Gene Research and Biotechnology, the Hatfield Marine Science Center, and the Hinsdale Wave Research Program. The school is one of only six universities nationally to have a combined land, sea, and space grant designation.
Spectrum Quarterly July 18, 2005
Editor’s Note — The following are excerpts from a discussion with Elaine Preston of Palm Desert High School in Palm Desert, California. She currently serves as an Advanced Placement Chemistry Instructor and a District Grant Coordinator for Desert Sands School District. The school's Science Department offers the school's 2,000 students College Preparatory, Advanced Placement, and Honors Chemistry courses. Palm Desert High School is a public institution that serves an economically and culturally diverse community between Indio and Palm Springs California. It was named in April as a 2005 California Distinguished High School from some 2,300 eligible institutions. Only five percent of California’s secondary schools annually qualify.
SQ: What does technology need to do to be successful in the secondary school science classroom? Has MeasureNet met any of these requirements?
PRESTON: Technology needs to be transparent, reliable, and augment human capability. The best use of technology for education, in my opinion, does not involve anything which diverts from learning the subject. MeasureNet fulfills these specifications.
First, MeasureNet is extremely easy for students to learn. The menu-driven screens on the lab units communicate very well. Second, the system is stable, reliable, and the customer support is without parallel. Third, MeasureNet simply allows for greatly enhanced capacity in data collection. It expands what students understand and ... by collecting more data points, with a greater degree of sensitivity and accuracy. Students can appreciate that [MeasureNet] is doing the labor of investigation for them, and they can therefore concentrate on understanding and analysis.
SQ: From an instructor's viewpoint, what are you able to do now that your lab has been upgraded? Do you pedagogically approach modules/experiments differently? Did you earlier mention a titration lab that has been shortened by MeasureNet?
PRESTON: High school AP chemistry is really difficult to fit into a traditional six-period a day schedule. MeasureNet allows us to accomplish the 22 required labs in two hour blocks. In the past, without MeasureNet, I simply couldn’t finish complex labs, or labs, even if relatively simple, which required lengthy data collection in the two hours we had. And we had labs that sometimes “wouldn’t go away”— stretching into subsequent days of the week and wreaking havoc with my syllabus. The Determination of the pKa of a Weak Acid lab which I referred to was an example of this. This year, we finished in two hours and the students had “textbook” looking graphs to analyze.
SQ: Has Measurenet had any discernable impact on student learning or attitude?
PRESTON: Students love MeasureNet. They realize how it relieves them from the burden of tedious data collection. They realize that their percents of error are really low because of MeasureNet and they feel empowered. I hear them say “I wonder if the college I’m going to will have MeasureNet?” My Advanced Placement scores have gone up these past two years — I am now hitting passing rates in the low 70’s (the national average is about 57%, and about the same for overall AP exams at my school) with much larger classes than in the past. Certainly it isn’t all due to MeasureNet, but some certainly is!
July 7, 2005
The College of DuPage has chosen network-based MeasureNet to replace its Labworks data acquisition interfaces in the school's Department of Chemistry laboratories. DuPage, located in suburban Chicago's Glen Ellyn community, is the largest single-campus community college in the Midwest with some 35,000 students enrolled per quarter.MeasureNet will initially perform pressure, temperature, voltage, and pH measurements in the General Chemistry lab curriculum.
The Chemistry Program is part of the school's Division of Natural and Applied Sciences. The division boasts the most comprehensive meteorological program of any community college in the United States. DuPages’s Naperville satellite campus near Aurora, Illinois will also be equipped with MeasureNet upon completion of a new chemistry laboratory.
The Firelands branch of Bowling Green State University has selected MeasureNet for use in the college's General Chemistry Laboratory. A ten-station network installation will include a shared visible-NIR spectrometer, pressure, temperature, and pH electrodes. Chemistry courses will also employ Measurenet's new dual-beam colorimeter and adapt existing Ohaus and Mettler balances for use with MeasureNet. It is also planned to make the system available to Biology courses for select experiments.
"Unlike the Physics Department, we have little room for PCs on our Chemistry lab benches. The spatial compactness of the MeasureNet System is very practical for us," explained Chemistry Instructor Linda Cornell. MeasureNet's easy-to-understand hierarchical menu structure and overall intuitive operation were also important considerations. "I have the expectation that MeasureNet will also be much easier to learn and use by our students compared to calculator and PC-based systems," said Cornell. Her program hosts many older, non-traditional students who juggle work and family obligations in addition to their classes. The Chemistry program provides core support for Masters in Nursing, Bachelors in Applied Health Science, and Associates of Science degrees.
Before joining BGSU-Firelands this past year, Cornell worked on projects for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the former Standard Oil Company of Ohio, and as a secondary school science instructor.
The campus of BGSU-Fireland's 1,800-strong student body is located in Huron, Ohio along the southern shores of Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo. Some 500,000 acres were granted in 1792 in this area of Connecticut's 120-mile long "Western Reserve" to compensate Connecticut victims of punitive British raids that had aimed to destroy war supplies and cripple shipping during the American Revolutionary War. Settlement got underway in 1808 after payments were completed to local Native Americans. It is the only instance in American history where civilian victims of war were compensated with land. These victims were known as the Fire Sufferers and the area's modern name Firelands is derived from abbreviating the original "Fire Sufferers Lands."
Cornell is excited about the prospects for her teaching laboratory, as well as her new data acquisition network. "MeasureNet was the only interface company to visit us to provide a workshop during our decision-making process. They have a strong level of commitment to our program and they're a lot of fun to work with!"
Virigina Tech Chemistry services some 3,000 students per semester. Freshman students entering this Fall (2004) will now have network-powered data collection from MeasureNet in six, newly-built freshman chemistry laboratories on its main campus in Blacksburg.
Each 12-station network features MeasureNet's new diode-array UV-vis spectrometer (200-800 nm range and one-nm resolution). The networked spectrometer enables up to 12 student pairs to utilize the instrument. Each spectrometer will used for emission and absorption experiments in Virginia Tech's freshman program, in addition to other probeware.. The program is ranked in the top 75 U.S. undergraduate programs by the National Research Council.
MeasureNet announced in June it has been chosen by Tennessee State University's Department of Chemistry to equip the school's General Chemistry laboratories for data acquisition.
Founded in 1912, Tennessee State primarily served the region's African-American community for many decades. The main Nashville campus began in 1947 as an extension of the University of Tennessee and merged into the former Tennessee State University in 1977 in an effort to dismantle the "duel system of education in Tennessee." Today, the university hosts nearly 6,000 graduate and undergraduate students from a variety of racial and economic backgrounds.
The Chemistry Department is housed in the Boswell Science Complex, a new 60,000 square foot building. It's equipped with state of the art teaching and research facilities, classrooms, chemical storage rooms, PC resource rooms, and library. The department hosts nearly 130 chemistry majors. Five general chemistry labs serve the department and the first MeasureNet Network is scheduled for deployment in the 2005 academic year.
"TSU is a critical step in the expansion of MeasureNet in Tennessee that began with the University of Memphis" says MeasureNet President Robert Voorhees. "We are extremely pleased to have Mohammed Karim and his dedicated colleagues on board."