THE CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR MOLECULAR STRUCTURE Katherine Kantardjieff, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92634

The California State University Center for Molecular Structure is a core research and training facility that serves the largest four-year and Masters' degree-granting public university system in the United States. The Center, the first of its kind at an institution not granting the Ph.D. degree, provides faculty and students throughout the CSU access to a Siemens HISTAR system for macromolecular structure determination, a scintillation detector and, soon, a Siemens SMART system for small molecule applications. A Silicon Graphics computer laboratory of Indigo and Extreme workstations and Challenge L server provides computational power and an extensive library of software for molecular structure analysis. Studies at the Center that will be discussed include: 1) bacterial toxins, 2) bovine ceruloplasmin, 3) glycyl- tRNA synthetase from E. coli, 4) ADP Glucose Pyrophosphorylase from photosynthetic bacteria, 5) cytochromes from photosynthetic bacteria, 6) novel organometallic compounds, 7) organotin-based polymer systems, 8) oxyallyl cation chemistry. The use of computers and x-ray instrumentation and innovative applications have been integrated into the undergraduate and graduate curriculum. The Center aspires to combine the best qualities of teaching and research universities where actively engaged students, faculty and staff work in close collaboration to expand knowledge. Support for the Center is generously provided by NSF-ILI-DUE, NSF-ARI-BIR, the State of California, CSUPERB, the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation and pending, the W.M. Keck Foundation.