Hockensmith initially developed the materials for the sensors while conducting faculty research at NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, during the summers of 1997 and 1998. We're now testing them to see if they sense nitrous oxides.
Sensors have to be specific to nitrous oxides or the sensor is ineffective.
To explain that process, Hockensmith compares it to the way a fire alarm works. Her efforts will make sure the sensors work and will allow undergraduates to conduct research under her direction. Those students then will be able to present their research to national scientific meetings, especially those of the American Chemical Society. She credits Linda Freed, APSU's director of grants and sponsored programs, with making this effort possible. The travel money is being funded by the CUR of Washington, D.C., which serves as a link between primarily research and graduate universities to undergraduate institutions.