Is That a Peak? A Course-Based Research Experience That Has Students Performing a Nontargeted Analysis of Dust and Consumer Products

Modern analytical environmental chemistry has increasingly moved away from traditional targeted chemical monitoring and toward a more nontargeted, big data approach. In this activity, students use freely available software to perform a nontargeted analysis of high-resolution mass spectrometry data from real indoor dust and consumer product samples. Students collect supporting evidence within the dataset to reduce uncertainty and contextualize their results within the field of environmental chemistry using primary literature. There is also an emphasis on data analysis as a core component of modern chemical research. This activity was delivered twice over the course of two years, first online during the initial wave of COVID-19, then in person the subsequent year, whereupon R coding was introduced to semiautomate the detection of candidate compounds. Student feedback was strong, with 96% of students indicating moderate to high satisfaction with the research component of the activity after the second iteration. Sufficient resources and sample data are provided for instructors to deliver this activity without needing access to a high-resolution mass spectrometer.