Links, Research Resources & Travel Policies

Scholarships and Funding

• ACS Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) | Supports research related to petroleum or fossil fuels at nonprofit institutions.
• Research Corporation | Supports research n the physical sciences and is a strong supporter of improvements in science education.
• WWU's Scholarships in the Department of Chemistry | Link to Chemistry Scholarships webpage.
• WWU's Scholarships in the Department of Engineering | Link to Dept of Eng.'s Student Info webpage.
• WWU's RSP Research & Creative Opportunities for Undergraduates | A competition that provides up to $500 in research funds for successful student authored research proposals.

Research Resources

• Periodic Table | An excellent periodic table, also available as a PDF.
• Solvent Drying | An excellent study on the drying of common lab solvents (available as a PDF).
• Spectral Database for Organic Compounds (SDBS) | National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (Japan)
• Name-Reaction.com | Explore named reactions and their mechanisms!
• Not Voodoo | Demystifying Synthetic Laboratory Techniques.
• Isotope Distribution Calc. & Mass Spec Plotter | An excellent web-based software that creates artificial MS plots
• Azeotrope Databank | An excellent web-based software that creates a list of components for azeotropes
• emolecules | A web-based software that allows for chemical drawing and supplier searches.
• Composites World | A web-based software that allows for alphabetical searches of common materials in polymer-composites.
• Organic Synthesis Bond Creator | A web-based database for many organic molecule transformations.
• pKa Tables | A web-based database that lists the pKa of many organic and inorganic molecules.
• Concentration of Stock Acids | A web-based database that lists the starting concentration of many common stock acids.
• EDX line positions | A web-based database for the lines commonly used for elemental analysis by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis.
• Tutorials on Electrocatalysis | A series of excellent tutorials published by Prof. Thomas Jaramillo on the fundamentals of electrocatalysis.

Student Conference Travel Policy

The level of support for student travel will change as the funding situation at WWU and within the group changes.  Some general considerations are below:

• WWU requires all students to have their travel described and approved by WWU ahead of the travel dates.  Generally, the home department will assist with the necessary forms for this.  Students should ask to sign-off on a budget plan ahead of any registration or payments.
• Students should ask to see a budget plan for this travel and sign this before any reservations or payments are made.
• Generally, conference registration fees will be covered for research students that present a poster or oral presentation (henceforth described as student participants). The conference registration procedure and payment are generally conducted by the home department at WWU.
• Generally, hotel rooms for student participants will be usually be shared with other students.  For a conference lasting more than 3 days, $200 total for hotel room costs will be provided for each student participant. Students are expected to attend the conference as much as possible. The student may have to contribute to the hotel cost if they wish to stay at the conference longer than the $200 budget will permit. 
• Generally, the lowest available airfare cost will be covered for student participants. The payment procedure for the airfare is generally conducted by the home department at WWU. 
• Per-diems for student participants will not be issued.
• Other incidental charges for student participants will likely not be covered.  Common incidental charges consist of costs associated with private poster printing (WWU poster printing is often free), presentation materials and hardware, taxis, buses, meals, drinks, hotel and airplane surcharges.  Please ask Prof. Rider ahead as to whether other incidental charges may be covered.
• Student participants should retain travel related receipts and confirmation documents for reimbursements (if possible). A lost document may disqualify an item from reimbursement.