Course Instructor:

Dr. Kevin A. Johnson, SL 2341 650-5934, kevjohn@siue.edu

Office Hours:

Tues. 3:30pm - 5:30pm, Wed. and Thurs. 10:00 - 11:30am, after class or by appointment. Note: If I am not in my office, I may be in my lab (SL 1209; ext 5063) or ask in the Chemistry Department office.

Objectives/Course Description:

By the end of the semester:

(1) Students will be able to define the importance of physicochemical properties like water solubility, octanol-water partition coefficient, Henry's Law coefficient, and soil sorption coefficient in assessing environmental distribution and fate of contaminants;

(2) Students will be able to define the importance of physicochemical properties to estimating transport processes like volatilization, leaching, and runoff of environmental contaminants; and

The overall goal of this course is to teach students not only to understand concepts, but also to work practical, quantitative problems concerning contaminant fate and transport in the environment. Students will also get experience in creating and using models to predict contaminant distributions and movement amongst the various environmental compartments.

Required Text:

Hemond, H. F. and E. J. Rechner-Levy. 2000. Chemical Fate and Transport in the Environment. 2^nd Edition. Academic Press, New York.

Getting Started with STELLA^® v6.0, Stella Software, The Systems Thinking Company™

There may be supplemental materials distributed in class.

Preparation/Prerequisites:

Organic chemistry or consent of the instructor.

Organization:

For approximately the first four weeks, class will be held twice a week for one hour and fifteen minutes each in SL 0209. After which, we will meet for lecture on Mondays (SL0209) and laboratory exercises on Wednesdays (SL122a). Class participation is expected and encouraged. There will be two midterms and a comprehensive final taken during the scheduled final exam.

Grading:

Homework 25%
Model 10%
Group Project/Presentation 10%
Exams: 55%

If you have questions regarding the grading of a particular problem on an assignment (homework, exam, or presentation), please see me as soon as possible to discuss the matter. I reserve the right to regrade the entire assignment. No points will be awarded or grades changed one week after an assignment has been handed back to the class. Unless arrangements are made with the instructor prior to the due date, late assignments (homework, papers, etc.) will be marked down 10% a day beginning at the end of the class period in which it was due (e.g. 6:16pm on the date its due = - 10%).

Attendance:

Attendance is essential for success in this class. If excessive absenteeism occurs, percentage points will be deducted from the overall grade. Exams will cover material both from lectures, reading, and homework assignments. If you miss a class, work with your fellow students to obtain notes for the missed lectures. Only University approved absences will be accepted for missing exams (however, it is strongly discouraged and frowned upon).

Group Project and Presentation:

Each student will be assigned to a "team." Each team will be assigned a class of compounds (e.g. acids, carbamates, chlorinated hydrocarbons, organophosphates, PAHs) and provided with approximately four example analytes. The members of the team will select one or two specific analytes to be responsible for in the assignments. There will be approximately 4 assignments (e.g. look up chemical and physical properties, find rate constants) throughout the semester including a group presentation. More information will be distributed during the second week of the semester.

Policy Statement: Academic Misconduct by Students

Faculty members retain their traditional authority to take disciplinary action in the event of academic misconduct. Acts of academic misconduct for which students are subject to sanctions include, without limitation, plagiarism, cheating, failure or refusal to follow clinical practice standards, falsifying or manufacturing scientific or scholarly experiments or research, and soliciting, aiding, abetting, concealing, or attempting such acts.

Plagiarism is defined as including, without limitation, the act of representing the work of another as one's own. Plagiarism may consist of copying, paraphrasing, or otherwise using written or oral work of another without proper acknowledgment of the source or presenting oral or written material prepared by another as one's own.

In the event of academic misconduct, the instructor may request the Student Assessments and Standards Committee of the Chemistry Department to impose on a student the sanction of a failing grade on an individual assignment or on the course as a whole. The Chair of the Department may recommend to the dean of Students other sanctions, such as dismissal from a major or from the University.