Chemistry Program

Why Study Chemistry at Fisher?

Class sizes in the Chemistry Department are small. Each of the freshman courses and the sophomore courses typically has only twenty to thirty-five students, so students get a lot of individual attention. Junior- and senior-level courses average less than ten students each. Most chemistry courses also have associated laboratory components. The labs are limited to sixteen students and are generally taught by the same faculty member who teaches the lecture part of the course.

The faculty members of the Chemistry Department believe that the study of chemistry is more than just the memorization of chemical facts. They are committed to making students self-sufficient through independent investigation, computer and library literacy, and extensive hands-on laboratory experiences. Oral and written communication skills are stressed in both the lecture and laboratory courses. The Department also requires two one-credit courses, Sophomore Seminar and Senior Seminar, which are specifically designed to help round out students' experience in chemistry. Sophomore Seminar introduces the students to career, graduate school, and research opportunities. In Senior Seminar, the "capstone" chemistry course, each student gives a formal departmental seminar on a current research topic in chemistry or biochemistry.

Learning Outside the Classroom

Chemistry students at Fisher have many ways to become involved in the Chemistry Department. There is an active Chemistry Club that sponsors afternoon lectures by scientists visiting from other schools, field trips to tour the laboratories at nearby industrial companies, and picnics and other social events. Many students work for the Department, preparing the chemicals and equipment for the lab courses and/or tutoring freshmen and sophomores. Because of the small size of the Department and its open lab policy for juniors and seniors, the faculty and students spend a lot of time talking and working together relatively informally.

More About the Labs

During the last few years, the faculty members of the Chemistry Department have been very active in obtaining grants for state-of-the-art instrumentation. Among the newest acquisitions are a 250 MHz Fourier-transform nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer (unusual for a school of Fisher's size), a Fourier-transform infrared spectrometer, a scanning ultraviolet-visible spectrometer, and two gas chromatographs. The latest grant awarded to the Department is from the National Science Foundation for a combination gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The Department also has its own computer lab equipped with molecular modeling software. All students in the Department learn to use all of the instrumentation, and become increasingly independent as they progress through the major. In addition to using the instrumentation in their laboratory courses, many students also choose to do independent research with one of the faculty members in the Department.