Chem Curriculum

4000-level objectives

2009-02-24T15:02:26Z

I look at a 4000-level course as one in which:

a) reading from the primary literature is a major component

b) students are exposed more fully (compared to a lower-level course) to the process of scientific inquiry - reading about how questions came to be posed, hypotheses tested (and sometimes thrown out), theories revised, etc.

NEC's take

2009-02-12T02:22:28Z

4000 level: extensive use of primary literature; suitable for upper level undergraduates or first year graduate students. 3000 level: requires 2000-level prereqs and "bridging" the 2000-4000 level gap. Senate policy:

3xxx Courses primarily for undergraduate students in their third year of study.
4xxx Courses primarily for undergraduate students in their third or fourth year of study; graduate students may enroll in such courses for degree credit.

Inorganic idea

2008-12-06T22:45:30Z

What about inorganic (with lab) every other spring? I am suggesting this as a possible solution to the low enrollment for Synthesis. Huh?!??!?! Synthesis and Inorganic/Lab would alternate every other spring. Well, there's so much organometallic chemistry in Synthesis, that students who have an organic bent could take synthesis but would still get some exposure to some inorganic chemistry....????

Prerequisites for Theoretical Chemistry

2008-12-03T18:40:07Z

I have been pondering theoretical chemistry, CHEM 4551, and how this course could be a possible elective for more students. Here are a few ideas:
1) remove CHEM 3502 (Physical Chemistry II) as a prerequisite
2) have CHEM 3501 (Physical Chemistry I) as a pre- or corequisite and/or consent of instructor
3) The CHEM 4551 would have two half-semester parts:
a) orbitals, chemical bonding, and computational chemistry for the first half
b) statistical thermodynamics for the second half
The first half of the course would work well with other parts of our curriculum where reasoning with orbitals and /or computation are helpful. I think that this can be taught in a way that would not require the p-chem II prerequisite. It is really the second half that would need p-chem I as a pre- or co-requisite. The first and second half could have separate listings, 4551a and 4551b. If so, could each be 1.5 credits? Both together would match the current course description for chem 4551.

3901 offering

2008-11-26T21:25:57Z

Should we be offering 3901 both semesters too? Should 3901 begin in the fall semester of the junior year for 0.5 credit and they have until the end of spring to finish up the requirements? That would keep the juniors "in the loop" (no itr --> spring of jr year break) and get them attending seminars earlier...

4901 objectives?

2008-11-26T21:15:51Z

If seminar really is our "capstone" class, then our objectives need to reflect that the seminar giver has achieved our basic major objectives, no? Of our new objectives, the ones that most directly apply are

advance student learning in contemporary chemistry at a level appropriate to undergraduates,
advance student competence in research in chemistry and
advance student skills in writing and speaking about chemistry

I think the 2nd and 3rd won't be too difficult to revamp into a specific learning objective for 4901, but (1) might be a little dodgier. To me, in a capstone course a student should, for all intents and purposes, "defend" their major. That their student learning in the whole of contemporary chemistry has been advanced. That I (a graduating chem major) can speak knowledgeably about the wider realm of chemistry, from inorganic to analytical to physical to organic/biochemical. Certainly the seminar itself has to be focused, but I'd like to see less shying away from those areas of the major that they are less comfortable with, and greater depth in the seminar so that this nebulous "objective #1" is truly achieved...

important topics & enrollment

2008-11-22T22:10:52Z

At the E3 conference last tuesday, I was struck by the importance of catalysts -- all of this high-powered research in renewable energy and green chemistry relies heavily on the continued research and development in organometallic chemistry, specifically w/r/t use of homogenous catalysts to carry out environmentally friendly transformations (green chem) and otherwise impossible (C-H activation) or unfavorable transformations. This makes me think that it is not a good idea to ditch the "Synthesis" class, which focuses on this kind of chemistry.

What I do think we need to think about is 1) how do we clue students in early on into this kind of chemistry and 2) make sure they have the opportunity to take classes that will prepare them for a variety of career tracks, especially since they are not likely to stay in the same job for their entire career.

Implementation of Instrumentation

2008-11-21T01:29:18Z

In response to the discussion of instrumentation in our curricululm: On Wed. (Nov. 19) in macromolecules we went over free-radical copolymerization. On Friday we will look at analyzing copolymers. In some cases TGA is an excellent choice if one or more monomeric subunits has a distint decomposition. I am having students analyze the classic ethylene/vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer (If you have had a bottle of the wine lately and it had a synthetic cork, chances are this is the EVA polymer). I have attached data of a series of these copolymers in which the first transition corresponds to loss of acetic acid from the vinyl acetate unit.

It is estimated that over 60% of industrial chemistry positions work directly with polymers. I think it is important that our students learn important methods of characterization, including polymeric materials.

Download file

Another visionary statement?

2008-11-20T21:26:26Z

This is what Frank Cerra had to say about the direction the AHC (Academic Health Center) is headed:

"Development of a new approach to education and training that is patient centered, team-based, evidenced-based, life-long, civically engaged, and occurs in an electronically enhanced learning environment;"

Seems to me that we change "patient centered" to "student centered" and we're talking about the same positive direction...nec

Alumni input from Andrew Christianson

2008-11-20T14:40:06Z

Alumnus Andrew Christianson was haunting the halls last week and I got some interesting info out of him w/r/t what we could do better based on his experiences in his current job as a lab manager:

more experience in dealing with people -- maybe recommend taking a management course
exposure to the "real world" of having to buy chemicals and equipment (Ted - I'm thinking that we can easily incorporate this into an assignment in ItR)
Can never have too much instruction on making solutions (he commented on how the others who work there - non-chemists - have no clue what molarity is or how to make up a solution)
"unleash them" -- he suggested that we consider more s/n coursework so that students feel more free to take risks.

Interesting input, I thought...

intro ideas from NEC

2008-11-19T19:33:16Z

Not that I wasn't paying attn during yesterday's E3 conference, but several thoughts came to me throughout the day:

We need to keep our focus on interdisciplinarity. I see our intro courses (first two years; whatever form they take) being as broad as possible so that students see how chemistry is used to solve all kinds of problems and can lead into all sorts of careers. Jr/Sr. level courses? How radical/interdisciplinary can we go?
Standardization: I hope that we will discuss working together to make our curriculum more coherent -- standardization of lab requirements, for example, in a spirit of compromise! : ) Writing requirements throughout our curriculum? Use of the primary literature throughout our curriculum?
What role is technology going to play in our future curriculum? Are we going to offer any on-line courses? Can we afford not to? (I'm no fan, but I think we have to ask the question)
Outreach/service learning/collaboration -- How can we break down the walls of our ivory tower and incorporate more partnerships with the community?
(Most importantly) This is something that we really have to work together on. It's not "the o-chem curriculum" or "electives" or "my favorite subject" but "how do we improve the major" and "how do we step into the future?"

]]> Took some hunting to find this blog but i know how to get to it now!
Zach