{"id":8326,"date":"2013-09-20T09:14:33","date_gmt":"2013-09-20T13:14:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=8326"},"modified":"2014-01-25T18:09:49","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T23:09:49","slug":"professor-benny-chan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=8326","title":{"rendered":"Professor Benny Chan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Benny<\/a>
Associate Professor of Chemistry Benny Chan\u2019s research focuses on discovering new compounds with thermoelectric and superconducting properties. Photo: Greg Parkinson, Monkey Loft Studios<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Solid-state materials chemist Benny Chan\u2019s research focuses on finding and synthesizing new compounds. He\u2019s especially interested in discovering materials that have superconductive or thermo-electric properties.<\/p>\n

The former compounds, which conduct electricity with zero resistance, can be used in everything from magnetic levitation to medical instrumentation. The latter compounds, which can convert temperature differences into electricity, have applications ranging from refrigeration to energy conservation.<\/p>\n

In recent years, Chan has discovered several new compounds that have these properties. His work, surprisingly enough, often begins not in the lab but by hitting the books.<\/p>\n

Assisted by his research team of undergraduates, Chan often starts by reviewing the literature to get an idea of how \u201cputting certain elements together might make something interesting,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that\u2019s about all we start with. From there, we have no idea what the compounds [will be], how the atoms [will be] arranged, [nor] what kind of properties [will] come out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

This discovery approach to doing chemistry\u2014as Chan jokingly described it: \u201cmix some stuff together, see what you get, then figure out what it does later\u201d\u2014is typical for solid-state chemists, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the stuff we\u2019re working on now we discovered by accident, particularly with thermo-electrics,\u201d Chan explained. \u201cWe started \u2018playing\u2019 in that area, and once we started finding those compounds, we understood where to find the next ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chan takes full advantage of the School of Science\u2019s single-crystal x-ray diffractometer. That instrument, acquired in 2010 with a National Science Foundation grant, is an incredibly rare find at a primarily undergraduate institution such as TCNJ, Chan said. It reflects x-rays off the electrons around the atoms in a single crystal, which allows Chan and his students to calculate the positions of all the atoms and thus determine the full three-dimensional arrangement of the atoms of the new compounds.<\/p>\n

The work isn\u2019t without its challenges. For example, in 2007 the team discovered a compound that exhibited superconducting properties, but since then they\u2019ve been unable to reproduce its synthesis. \u201cWe can\u2019t seem to grow the crystals big enough to analyze them anymore,\u201d Chan explained. \u201cWe did it a few times, but the student [who was working on it] is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such a statement provides evidence of the important role undergraduates can play in a professor\u2019s research at TCNJ, where faculty members are more than just teachers\u2014they\u2019re also mentors to and research partners with their students, an arrangement that benefits both parties.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s something that Chan, who in addition to his faculty position directs faculty-student scholarly and creative-collaboration activities at the College, is well aware of. In this other role, Chan oversees the College\u2019s Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience (MUSE)\u2014an intensive, eight-week program that gives TCNJ students the opportunity to work in close, mentored collaboration with faculty on scholarly and creative projects in their disciplines.<\/p>\n

Chan pointed out that while other schools offer summer research programs, they often cater exclusively to students in the sciences, engineering, or psychology\u2014disciplines in which it\u2019s traditional to have the type of close mentor-mentee relationship that MUSE fosters. But since its inception, TCNJ\u2019s MUSE program has welcomed faculty and students from every major department, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve found that MUSE is a high-impact pedagogy that all <\/i>students should be able to participate in,\u201d Chan said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s MUSE program\u2014which Chan said was the largest yet in terms of the numbers of students and faculty who participated\u2014was no exception. Despite seeing a 25 percent increase in applications for MUSE funding, which made the application process \u201cmore competitive than ever,\u201d the committee funded collaborations from all of TCNJ\u2019s seven schools, Chan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s unique, because there are a lot of disciplines where having collaborators is very rare\u2014where most of the scholarship or creative work is done on the solo level. I\u2019m very happy that so many faculty across the campus have developed mentoring and collaboration strategies that benefit the faculty member\u2019s scholarship and the students\u2019 education,\u201d Chan said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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