This project began in the fall of 2002 at Southern Oregon University. It began with just a small group of us working on a very simple project for Dr. Owen McDougal. Our task at hand was to run NMR, IR, and GC-MS spectra from a list of 40 compounds and to create a “catalog” of compounds to be used for the next winter’s spectroscopy course. The list of compounds was arranged in a manner (weeks 1-6) to follow a pedagogical teaching approach in order to enhance student learning and comprehension of the subject. The catalog turned into a highly user-friendly and organized database that came in very handy as 30 more compounds were added to our list. At this point, compounds got rearranged into different weeks and one more week was added to the program. This system and organization became the solid foundation in developing our program and gearing it toward a more “gradualistic” method of teaching and learning spectroscopy at the undergraduate level. Two papers have since been written and submitted to be published presenting our pedagogical approach and the database used to catalog all of the compounds and their spectra used for the course.

Work on the website began in 2003. It was the final step in tying our whole program together and offering it to the academic community to improve the coverage of NMR spectroscopy for undergraduates. We are pleased to present Oraganic Spectroscopy Online and it is our hope that this website will take away the intimidation factor from the complex subject of NMR spectroscopy as well as reiterate fundamental concepts to students that are necessary for understanding and utilizing the subject.

Since the beginning of this project, we have added a few more people to our group and lost a few as well. The current group consists of Dr. Owen McDougal, and undergraduate students, Aaron Hart, Jonas Buser, Ryan Farmer, and Shannon Conn. We all have contributed significantly to this project and have each taken certain aspects of it under our wings. Now, let’s meet the group…

Top Row,Left to Right: Professor Owen McDougal, Ryan Farmer, Aaron Hart

Bottom Row, Left to Right: Shannon Conn and Jonas Buser