Working in Chemistry at RUPP

Before Janaya got sick, I wanted to tell you something more about my work here. Now I will try. My assignment for the year is in the Chemistry Department at the Royal University of Phnom Penh. It is the top comprehensive, public university in the country, but still struggling to recover from the days of Pol Pot. On one hand, there is a brand new infrared spectrometer with all the bells and whistles in the room next door to me. But there is no running water in the bathrooms on my floor – only squattie potties, and large drums of water with buckets.
The department has three majors: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Food Technology. There are a lot of students in each class, who take a prescribed set of courses from beginning to end. They study many advanced topics in chemistry, but have limited laboratory experiences, and no electives. For all the college students reading this...classes here start at 7 AM!

As I started getting acquainted here, my first assignment was to assist the biochemistry professor in preparing a powerpoint presentation on nutrition for a group of Vietnamese and Laotian journalists. This was a good way for me to get to know him a little better and it was fun. Each day he would have pulled down a number of facts and pictures from the internet. I helped him to understand some of the western ways of describing things and helped to eliminate material that was not suitable for the audience. Soon after that, the new infrared spectrometer arrived, and I have become the resident expert on that instrument, training faculty and students and looking especially for ways in which the instrument can be incorporated into their laboratory program. I was impressed with the students who were here in the summer to prepare the room for this instrument, and sit in on all the training from the company representative. This happened in the summer – school wasn’t even in session! They swept floors, moved furniture, caulked windows, and learned how to run the instrument.

We’ve also been planning our research projects. Each year, the top seniors are chosen to pursue research, instead of coursework, during their last semester. I am looking forward to working with several students on a variety of projects. While Janaya’s illness has set me back a little, after looking through all the stockrooms here, I am preparing to order the reagents and supplies I need to study how market vegetables can be used to do chemical reactions. This area, called biotransformation, is of increasing interest as chemists look for ways to do chemical synthesis in a “greener”way.. In addition, we have written a proposal for funding to look at the amounts of PCBs and DTTs in the shellfish that is eaten widely here in the city. The latter project is part of a bigger body of work in which the chemistry department has looked for the presence of these toxins in both soil sediments and fish. We have both a GC, and potentially two HPLCs for this work. But not unlike the US, it is hard to keep these instruments up and running at all times.

I am part of a large group of Cambodian faculty here, many who are very young. Each year, the best graduates go abroad to gain master’s degrees, and perhaps Ph.D.s. The hope is that these students will return. Right now many of the best recent graduates are out of the country, so it is a challenge for the department head to get all his courses covered. (Same challenges at home...) In recent years, there have been foreign visitors who have worked with the biochemistry, analytical and environmental chemistry programs. I’m the first to come with an expertise in organic chemistry. The department has enjoyed a long relationship, perhaps 8 years, with an Australian chemist, who works full time in the department to improve every aspect of the program: research, curriculum, infrastructure, building needs, computers, translation of textbooks into Khmer, you name it. There is a group of foreign workers who have coffee together each day. While never part of my routine in the US, this is a wonderful way to meet people and better understand many aspects of Cambodian culture.

This week and next, I am training students on the use of the infrared spectrometer. This is one way in which I can improve the ability of students to work with modern instrumentation, improve the capacity of the department by showing them how these instruments can be incorporated into their programs, and gain the trust of faculty so that I soon can begin research with their students and in their labs. I’ve been teaching 3rd year students – who have some English skills. I have only some Khmer skills. Pretty challenging. I try to go slow – and give the big picture. It is fun – you know I love teaching.

Roseann