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The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 30
(2025) pp 58-62
Application of Wireless Hand-held Sensors for Storm Water Management Program (SWMP) and Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE)
Alondra Montejano, Jennifer Nguyen, Benjamin Duong, Ngan Tran, Mario Salgado, and Karno Ng*
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, California State University San Marcos, CA 92096, kng@csusm.edu
Received November 2, 2024. Accepted February 24, 2025.
Published: 24 March 2025
Abstract. Stormwater is collected by a network of drainage. During the process of traveling to the drainage, stormwater collects pollutants along with oils and debris. These substances eventually transferred to lakes, ponds, and oceans along with the stormwater. Thus, it is important to monitor the quality of the stormwater to minimize the impact on our environment. To raise the campus’s awareness of the importance of preserving the environment, students were invited to participate in the analytical process of the Storm Water Management Program (SWMP) on campus. Wireless hand-held pH, turbidity, and conductivity sensors were used for data collection. Performances of these sensors were found to be comparable with the traditional benchtop instruments. All three sensors show good precision (RSD < 5% for inter-day and intra-day studies). In addition, to further enhance students’ interest in research, a pilot Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) project is designed for a sophomore/junior level analytical chemistry course with the use of these wireless sensors.
Key Words: Laboratories and Demonstrations; analytical chemistry
(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: kng@csusm.edu)
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