For the past few years, we have been seeing a number of undergraduate students at our university and neighboring ones, who are doing a double majors degree in Chemistry and Art History. This has led us to begin designing summer research projects for these students in the broad field of art forensics, using variable-temperature and high-pressure Raman spectroscopy as an analytical tool for studying artists’ pigments. All of these students have succeeded in co-authoring publications based on their four months summer work. Moreover, some of them have then gone on to do graduate work in art conservation in Italy, the UK and Qatar. In addition, several have subsequently become interns and/or conservationists in world famous art museums, such as the Getty Museum in California and the National Gallery in London. This undergraduate research approach clearly has major benefits in exposing undergraduate students to fascinating possibilities for their future careers.<br/>

Art forensics and Raman spectroscopy: Undergraduate research projects

251st National Meeting (2016)

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