CHEMISTRY PROGRAM

1. Statement of Program Objectives

The objectives of the chemistry program are the following:

1. To provide professional training through the chemistry major to students wishing to pursue careers, either directly or after additional graduate study, in chemistry or related fields such as medicine, biotechnology, pharmacology, and environmental science, or to teach chemistry in secondary schools or colleges. This training includes guiding and helping the students toward an understanding of the principles, approaches, and methods of the discipline of chemistry, and encouraging them to develop the skills of conceptual analysis, abstract reasoning, and integrative problem solving.

2. To provide to students majoring in other disciplines such as biology, biotechnology, nursing, health studies, engineering, and physics with the knowledge and understanding of chemistry needed for their fields of study.

3. To contribute to the general education of students not majoring in chemistry or related disciplines by offering courses which provide an introductory overview of the principles, concepts, and methods of chemistry as a science, combined with education in abstract reasoning and problem solving.

 

2. Relationship to Institutional Mission

Approximately five years ago, the Worcester State community reviewed the mission of the College, focusing on the strengths of the College, the needs of the students it serves, and the job training needs of the region in which the College is located. Health care-related industries are the single largest source of employment in Worcester, and biotechnology is a growing industry in Worcester county. Reaffirming the commitment to a strong liberal arts core, the revised mission statement adopted a focus in biotechnology and the health sciences. Consistent with this focus, the College now offers baccalaureate level programs in biotechnology, occupational therapy, and nursing, and master’s programs in communication disorders, occupational therapy, and biotechnology.

The revised mission of the College states in part: "The curriculum of the College emphasizes a liberal arts core which provides students with a foundation for career and life choices; building upon this foundation is a dynamic variety of arts and sciences majors in addition to professional programs sensitive to student career requirements in a changing economic climate." The chemistry program is an integral component of this focused mission. All of the objectives of the chemistry program support the College’s commitment to a liberal arts core by including an emphasis on principles, concepts, abstract reasoning, and problem solving. The training in chemistry expressed in the first objective and the contribution to training in other professional programs, included in the second, support in an integral way the College’s commitment to provide "professional programs sensitive to student career requirements in a changing economic climate."

Students who major in chemistry are in a strong position to secure jobs in either health-related companies or in biotechnology-based firms. In addition, a strong chemistry program is an important source of support for the programs in health care and biotechnology. The centrality of the sciences to the new focused mission of the College was recognized by the Board of Higher Education when it approved the construction of a state-of-the art science and technology building for the College. Now in the construction stage, the building will house the health programs, chemistry, biology, and the natural and physical sciences, as well as the major program in computer science.  

CHEMISTRY MAJOR PROGRAM

Table I: Course Requirements of Curriculum*

Departmental Courses Required *

Course Number

Course Title

Credit Hours
     
CH-120 General Chemistry I

4
CH-121 General Chemistry II

4
CH-201 Organic Chemistry I (lectures)

3
CH-203 Organic Chemistry Laboratory I

2
CH-202 Organic Chemistry II (lectures)

3
CH-204 Organic Chemistry Laboratory II

2
CH-210 Chemical Analysis

4
or CH-470 Instrumental Analysis

4
CH-301 Physical Chemistry I (lectures)

3
CH-303 Physical Chemistry Laboratory I

2
CH-302 Physical Chemistry II (lectures)

3
Ancillary Courses Required

Course Number

Course Title

Credit Hours
     
PY-221 & PY-222 General Physics I & II

8
or PY-241 & PY-242 Physics I & II

8
MA-200 & MA-201 Calculus I & II

8
     

 

* Effective January 1, 2003: Students who register as chemistry majors after December 31, 2002 will be required to satisfy the following additional requirements.  
CH 475 Chemistry Seminar (2 credits) 
plus two of the following three courses
CH 340 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry (3 credits)
CH 410 Biochemistry I (4 credits)
CH 470 Instrumental Analysis (4 credits)

3. Chemistry Department Instructional Equipment

Item, Manufacturer, and Model #     (Quantity)                                        

Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer

Perkin Elmer Analyst 800 Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer 
            with autosampler   (1) 

Autotitration Unit

Karl Fischer, TS68830    (1)                                                 

Bomb Calorimeter 

Parr   (1)                                                                                 

Centrifuges

Beckman-Coulter Avanti J25 Ultracentrifuge (1)

Eppendorf, Model 5403    (1)                                             

Damon-IEC, CRU-5000     (1)                                               

Fisher, Microcentrifuge 235B    (1)                                       

Environmental Chamber

Chromatography Refrigerator    (1)                                      

Computers

A 20-station computer laboratory equipped with Dell Pentium III desktop computers
      and chemistry related software including Mathcad and Chemistry 4-D Draw Pro

Dell Pentium III Notebook computers with Vernier data acquisition software and
       probes for in-lab acquisition and analysis of data  (12)

Dell XPS M200s Pentium  computers (5)                                      

Dell Latitude LM M166MMX Pentium Notebook   (1)             

Computer Projector: InFocus 220V LCD Projector   (1) 

Dell 486 DXS  [with Vernier software for collection of data in laboratory]     (4) 

Gas Chromatographs

Perkin-Elmer, Autosystem  Analytical Gas Chromatograph     (1)  

Shimadzu GC8-A Gas Chromatographs     (2)

Perkin Elmer Turbochrome Chromatography Data Analysis Software  (1)

Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer

Varian Saturn 2100D Gas Chromatograph/Mass Spectrometer   (1)                                

High Performance Liquid Chromatographs

Perkin Elmer Series 200  High Performance Liquid Chromatograph   (1)

Varian, Model 2010 w/ Waters Model 440 Absorbance Detector       (1)            

Infrared Spectrophotometers

Nicolet Avatar 360 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophometers     (2)

Perkin-Elmer, Model 283B     (1)    

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrophotometer 

 Bruker Avance 300 MHz Fourier Transform NMR Spectrometer   (1)                            

UV-Visible Spectrophotometers

Varian Cary 100 UV-Visible Spectrophotometer   (1)

Perkin-Elmer, Lambda 11        (1)                                 

Varian, Model 634      (1)                                                    

Visible Spectrophotometers

Sequoia-Turner, Model 340         (4)                               

Bausch & Lomb, Spectronic 21     (2)                         

 

 

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