RESEARCH AND ACADEMIC FACILITIES
The faculty at SIUE engage in a wide range of research and sponsored projects. Most of the research programs provide special opportunities for graduate students to further their education. Additionally, these activities provide challenging intern and practicum experiences for graduate students through affiliation with businesses in the greater St. Louis area.
ILLINOIS EDUCATION RESEARCH COUNCIL (IERC)
The Illinois Education Research Council (IERC) at SIUE provides education research to support P-20 education policy making and program development. The IERC undertakes independent research and policy analysis, often in collaboration with other researchers, which informs and strengthens Illinois’ commitment to providing a seamless system of educational opportunities for its citizens. Through publications, presentations, participation on committees and an annual research symposium, the IERC brings objective and reliable evidence to the work of state policy makers and practitioners. See www.ierc.siue.edu for more information.
INSTITUTE FOR URBAN RESEARCH, SIUE
Established in 2000 as the result of a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Resources, the Institute for Urban Research (IUR) was created to promote research on topics related to urban issues and problems, especially those experienced by older core cities and their suburbs. The primary purpose of the IUR is to encourage and support faculty and staff research through the creation of multidisciplinary teams. With the support of its staff and resources, the Institute uses internal research support to enhance external funding for research on urban-related subjects. When permitted by its resources to do so, the staff of the Institute initiates its own projects and responds to requests from the University’s diverse constituencies to undertake research that will address their concerns. The diversity in the demographics, economy, history, and institutions of the St. Louis Metropolitan region presents the faculty, staff, and students of SIUE with a laboratory that permits the study of a wide range of issues confronting urban areas in the 21st Century. See www.siue.edu/IUR for more information.
LOVEJOY LIBRARY
Lovejoy Library maintains more than 800,000 volumes, over 1.3 million microform units and 34,000 audio visual items. The Library subscribes to more than 24,000 journals and periodicals, 18,540 of which are electronic and available to members of the University from their homes or offices. Lovejoy Library offers assistance to students, faculty, and staff, and acquaints users with procedures for locating information and resources for papers, theses, or other research projects. The library’s resource-sharing agreements make it possible for University students to use other academic, public, and special libraries in the St. Louis area. Electronic access also is provided to the collections of other libraries in Illinois and throughout the world. Materials from these collections may be obtained through interlibrary loan. See www.siue.edu/lovejoylibrary/about/about.shtml for more information.
NATIONAL CORN-TO-ETHANOL RESEARCH CENTER AT SIUE
The National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) located in University Park of SIUE is the only public entity of its kind.
The NCERC is Unique in that it is the only facility in the world to house the following all under one roof:
• Analytical Laboratory
• Fermentation Research Laboratory
• Pilot Plant: Dry Grind and Wet Mill Ethanol Production Process
• Workforce Training Center and Programs
The NCERC is available to test new products and technologies that have been demonstrated on a laboratory scale for their viability in a commercial operation.
The NCERC Pilot Plant fully emulates both a corn Dry Grind and Wet Mill commercial fuel ethanol production plant.
The NCERC includes Wet Chemistry and Fermenation Research laboratories that offer commercial services to many segments of the agri-processing, fuel, feed, food and grain industries.
In addition to the Pilot Plant and Laboratories, the NCERC is the only facility in the world to house both classroom training and a computer simulation center of the ethanol production process.
The NCERC Workforce Training Programs are unique in that persons receive classroom instruction, computer simulation training and applied hands on learning all in the same building.
What makes NCERC truly unique is the flexibitiy of the facility's design. The process and the plant layout are intended to allow multiple clients access to the facility simutaneously. The laboratory, milling/refining and carbohydrate processing/fermentation portions of the plant are completely separated and can be entirely decoupled as required. Or, if desired, a single customer may utilize the entire Pilot Plant and Laboratories to study the process of taking feedstocks (both starch based and energy based) all the way to denatured anhydrous ethanol and their corresponding co-product.
In addition to the installed processes, the layout and piping design of NCERC allow adequate floor space and utilities to support either additional or substitutionary equipment and systems. See www.ethanolresearch.com.
SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONAL, RESEARCH, AND PRACTICUM FACILITIES
The individual academic units support facilities that are specific to their research and classroom needs. The Sciences have 20,000 square feet of laboratory space for research and teaching, Within the Department of Biological Sciences are facilities and equipment supporting research ranging from molecular to ecosystem levels. Facilities include a greenhouse, vivarium, environmental chambers, growth chambers, tissue culture, and equipment for automated DNA sequencing, real-time PCR, cell transformation, and imaging analysis. Microscopy facilities and equipment include fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The 2660 acre campus provides access to upland forest and prairie habitats, a 70 acre reservoir as well as various wetland habitats. The campus is adjacent to two Illinois State Nature Preserves, the Watershed Nature Center, and floodplain habitats of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.
Major equipment in the Chemistry department includes an EG&G PAR Versastat Potentiostat, a Bruker ER 200 D EPR Spectrometer (VT), a Vacuum Atmosphere System TS-400 Glove Box equipped with electrochemical connections, a 300 MHz Varian Unity Plus NMR Spectrometer (multinuclear, VT), a MALDI-MS, a Varian 300-series LC-MS with direct injection ESI-MS capability, a Varian 200 GC-MS for identification of organic by-products, a scanning electron microscope, a Harrod Industries TGA / DTA, and a Rigaku/MSC MiniFlex+ powder X-ray diffractometer.
The Department of Physics provides excellent facilities for experimental research in the areas of thin-film optics, optical spectroscopy, nonlinear optics, volume holographic storage, ultrafast optics, Plasminics and nanophotonics, and photon counting in scintillating optical fibers. The optical coating lab has complete facilities for design, production, and analysis of multi-layer thin films. The laser and spectroscopy lab is equipped with state-of-the-art lasers and devices. It contains Nd:YAG, ultrafast Ti:Sapphire, argon, and cw Spectra Physics “Millennia V” lasers, as well as a Raman & Fluorescence spectrometer, Perkin-Elmer Lambda 9 UV/VIS/NIR spectrophotometer, ultrafast detectors, microstructure optical fiber, and submicron resolution translation stages. The optical scintillating fiber lab is equipped with state-of-the-art photon counting systems and associated electronics. The Physics and Astronomy education research facilities include a dedicated interview room, equipped with digital audio and video recording capabilities, a laboratory preparation area, and computer facilities with sophisticated software for qualitative, quantitative and interview analysis, as well as graphical image processing. In addition, a high-tech audio system for recording groups in large lecture/ laboratory situations exists.
The Department of Geography operates a state-of-the-art Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing computer lab, equipped with the most up-to-date software and hardware. This lab enables students to assemble, manipulate, analyze, and display spatial data. In addition, the department also operates a Physical Geography and Geology Lab, which includes our campus weather station. This lab enables students to conduct research on surface and ground water, minerals and soils, the distribution and abundance of plants and animals, local weather, and the effects of human impact on all of these components.
The Department of Mass Communications has state-of-the-art facilities including a digital TV studio, an Avid editing lab, a multimedia laboratory, a full line of ENG cameras and accessories, plus non-linear radio production studios. Students gain additional experience at the National Public Radio station, WSIE-FM, in SIUE's Web-radio, or through participation in the department's television program, Global Village. Moreover, the St. Louis metropolitan area is the 21st largest media market in the United States. SIUE's Mass Communications Department program takes advantage of the resources of the region by regularly scheduling media professionals for guest appearances in classes, by employing working professionals as part-time faculty, and by sponsoring events such as Mass Communications Week, in which a number of programs on topics as varied as the job search, television and film lighting, independent video producing in St. Louis, seminars by corporate media consultants, and a dialogue with a St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist are conducted by working professionals and the faculty.
In the Fine Arts, the Department of Art and Design offers two Master's programs, a Master of Fine Arts in Art Studio and a Master of Art in Art Therapy. The Department of Music, offering the Master of Music, is housed in its modern teaching and rehearsal facility, featuring a state-of-the-art recording studio, spacious ensemble rehearsal rooms, and numerous practice rooms. In addition, the Department of Theater and Dance operates two theaters. One features a well-equipped 400 seat proscenium house with high end sound and lighting technologies. The other, the James F. Metcalf Student Experimental Theater, also computerized, is a black box space designed to encourage maximum flexibility and innovation.
Within the School of Business, the departments of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Management and Marketing, and Computer Management and Information Systems maintain libraries and databases (COMPUSTAT, CRSP, and LEXIS/NEXIS/NAREA) for Illinois, the United States, and international markets.
Facilities and resources in the School of Education enhance graduate study and research opportunities in the departments of Educational Leadership; Kinesiology and Health Education; Psychology; Curriculum and Instruction (elementary and secondary teaching); and Special Education and Communication Disorders. Resources include a specially-equipped Reading Center, instructional computing labs and classrooms, facilities for digital audio and video production, hardware and software for web-based learning applications, and laboratory facilities for human research. Facilities often combine research with community outreach functions. For example, graduate students in Speech-Language Pathology provide services for children and adults with communication disorders at the Speech, Language, and Hearing Center. The Center provides therapeutic and diagnostic services for SIUE students, faculty and staff and for individuals within the surrounding area. In addition, the Department operates an Assistive Technology Lab and Classroom. This facility is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to train students and provide services for individuals with multiple handicaps. Graduate students in Psychology deliver services to children with Attention and Behavior problems in the department’s Attention & Behavior Clinic. The Exercise Physiology Laboratory housed in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education has the capability for detailed assessment of physical activity and cardiovascular fitness, anthropometrics and body composition, and other physiological outcomes. The laboratory accommodates both clinical and basic research.
Graduate students are also engaged within the community. For example, students in Speech-Language Pathology, Special Education, and Curriculum and Instruction provide services to the East St. Louis Center, Head Start and residents of East St. Louis and Metro East as part of their practical experiences.
Within the School of Engineering, there are electrical engineering laboratories for control systems, image processing, digital signal processing, computer and network architecture, microprocessor interfacing, and VLSI design. There are civil engineering laboratories for materials and structures, soil mechanics, and environmental processes. Mechanical engineering laboratories include solid mechanics, dynamics and control, heat transfer and fluid mechanics. Computer Science laboratories include network programming, human-computer interaction, mobile robotics, and virtual reality.
The School of Nursing has a state-of-the-art Psychomotor Skills Laboratory, which provides nursing students with realistic clinical settings in a controlled laboratory experience. The 3,000 square feet of space includes a mock nursing station, three hospital rooms, three clinic rooms, one psychiatric interview room, one intensive care room, one labor and delivery room, one operating room, one computer lab, and a laboratory room equipped with teaching and student microscopes. Students have the opportunity to practice during open hours when classes are not scheduled. This facility is fully equipped with products and equipment used in actual health care facilities. Adult and pediatric human patient simulators are state-of-the-art computerized mannequins, which can simulate real-life patients with a variety of health conditions for students to learn critical incident nursing management.
The School of Dental Medicine, located on the Alton Campus, has 15 research laboratories used by its biomedical and clinical science faculty. In addition to the research laboratories, the Dental School has broad capabilities in microscopy, including scanning electron microscopy and confocal microscopy. The pain research laboratories have been enhanced through addition of an electrophysiology unit with an ion imaging system and an osmometer that allows for measurement and control of osmolarity in test solutions. Additional sophisticated equipment is available to support our major areas of research focus which include, orofacial pain, dental materials/implants, microbial pathogenesis of oral disease and correlations of oral health with diet, nutrition and systemic health. The Dental School awards the professional degree, Doctor of Dental Medicine. Persons interested in a dental program should direct inquiries to the Southern Illinois University School of Dental Medicine, Admissions Office, 2800 College Avenue, Alton, Illinois 62002.
University services not listed elsewhere in this catalog that contribute to the conduct of student life are the University Museum that contains the world renowned Louis Sullivan Architectural Ornament Collection, the University radio station (WSIE-FM), University Bookstore, Veterans Services, and the Religious Center, which is distinguished by an elegant dome designed by R. Buckminster Fuller.