400-level Chemistry Courses and Descriptions
Advanced Courses for Various Concentrations
There are no formal options offered with the chemistry degree. You should choose your elective courses to best suit your chemical interests. Below are some courses recommended for different interest areas.
Analytical Chemistry
| Course | Semester Offered | Description |
| CHEM 402 Environment Chemistry: Atmosphere | Fall | This lecture course provides an introduction to atmospheric chemistry. Topics covered include climate change, air pollution, and the ozone hole. Thermodynamics, kinetics, and organic chemistry are applied to understand these environmental systems. This class is a great way to learn how chemistry helps to understand and solve environmental problems facing our world. |
| CHEM 404 Environmental Chemistry: Water and Soil | Spring | This class focuses on environmental issues and their intersection with chemistry. Topics will include water and soil chemistry, persistent organic pollutants, microplastics, perfluorinated compounds, and remediation strategies. This class is a great way to learn how chemistry helps to understand and solve environmental problems facing our world. |
| CHEM 411 Advanced Inorganic Lab | This capstone lab course is for students that are interested in synthesis and characterization of inorganic and organometallic molecules, solid state materials, air and water sensitive techniques, and independent inorganic research. Students will practice professional skills such as writing research articles and grant proposals and giving oral presentations. | |
| CHEM 423W Chemical Spectroscopy | Spring | Instruments are at the core of every measurement and observation we make. Is it on? Is the instrument functioning...correctly? Is the data publishable or even trustworthy? Results (and therefore, the interpretations) are only as good as the data collection and processing methods employed by the user. In this course we will explore the math, physics, and chemistry underlying instrument theory, design, and optimization. |
| CHEM 425W Chromatography and Electrochemistry | Fall | LC and LC-MS are the go-to analytical instruments for sample characterization in industry and a majority of applications in academia. Modern chemistry emerged from its alchemical roots upon the invention of the battery; today, electrochemical research is paving the way for a more energy efficient future. The course delves into the theory and application of both chromatography and electrochemistry via project-based work. |
| CHEM 468 Molecular Spectroscopy | Spectroscopy is the study of how light interacts with matter. In this class, we will describe how to implement and analyze cutting-edge spectroscopy experiments in biological, materials, and solution-phase environments. Students will learn to how to build and use advanced microscopes capable of "seeing" single molecules. Direct connections to current problems in biophysical chemistry and materials science will be made. |
Biological Chemistry
| Course | Semester Offered | Description |
| CHEM 476 Biological Chemistry | Fall | In one way or another, biochemistry underlies many, if not the majority, of research in modern chemistry. It is critical that chemists have an appreciation of biological chemistry. The goal is to provide you with the background necessary to understand and solve significant problems in this area. This course will focus on understanding the structure and function of the major biological macromolecules (i.e. proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and carbohydrates). |
Inorganic & Materials Chemistry
| Course | Semester Offered | Description |
| CHEM 406 Nuclear and Radiochemistry |
An in-depth exploration into nuclear chemistry. Students learn about types of radioactive decay, how to model the speeds at which they occur, and the fundamental chemical and physical reasons nuclear decay processes happen. Students also explore how radiation interacts with and affects living systems. |
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| CHEM 480 Chemistry and Properties of Polymers | Spring |
Polymers are materials made by combining many small molecules together. Polymers are used in applications as films, foams, paints, fibers, and structural materials. They can be either natural (such as silk) or synthetic (man-made, such as nylon). In this course, you will learn how to make and describe polymers and understand their properties. We will also explore the use of polymers in applications such as electronics, biomedical devices, and 3D printing. |
Organic & Synthetic Chemistry
| Course | Semester Offered | Description |
| CHEM 430 Structural Analysis of Organic Compounds | Spring | This lecture course explores the background and interpretation of spectroscopic and spectrometric data. Topics covered include important laboratory techniques like UV/Vis, IR, Mass Spec, 1D-NMR, 2D-NMR, and Multinuclear NMR. Students often describe this class like a “puzzle”, as all of the provided pieces of data must fit together to solve an unknown organic structure! |
| CHEM 431W Organic and Inorganic Preparations | Fall |
This capstone organic laboratory course encourages students to work in teams to refine advanced laboratory techniques, data analysis, creation (synthesis) of organic molecules, and data analysis. Students also dive into published journal articles to obtain laboratory procedures and background information. Excellent preparation for work as an organic synthetic chemist or for those pursuing more studies after college. |
| CHEM 432 Organic Reaction Mechanisms | Fall and Spring | Organic reaction mechanisms explain how chemical reactions occur. This course is a deep dive into understanding and proposing reasonable and accurate representations of reaction mechanisms. Students take the lead in researching reactions and proposing plausible reaction mechanisms. This is great class for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of organic chemistry and ability to rationalize how reactions occur. |
| CHEM 433 Industrial Medicinal Chemistry Lab |
This advanced organic lab builds on synthetic organic chemistry lab skills in the context of medicinal chemistry and drug development. Students will learn how the pharmaceutical industry approaches drug design, synthesis, and testing. Students will work closely with an industrial medicinal chemist, tour a pharmaceutical company, and give a poster presentation on their research from the semester. |
Physical & Theoretical Chemistry
| Course | Semester Offered | Description |
| CHEM 408 Computational Chemistry | Fall |
This course introduces using computational methods to describe chemistry and bridges the gap between theory and experimentation. We perform rigorous data analysis to understand the behavior of molecules and reactions, as well as learning about new developments in computational chemistry. Students develop critical thinking, problem solving, and research skills. |
| CHEM 448 Surface Chemistry | Fall |
Surface chemistry is the study of processes that occur at the interphase of two different phases of matter. It is important in many applications ranging from industrial catalysts to consumer products and biology. This course emphasizes basic principles of surface chemistry, emphasizing structure and properties of interfaces from a largely physical chemical viewpoint. |
| CHEM 459W Advanced Experimental Physical Chemistry | Spring |
This capstone physical chemistry lab course is a writing intensive course designed to help students apply theoretical physical chemistry knowledge into laboratory experimentation and data analysis. Students delve deep into a singular research project, which, with individualized feedback and mentoring, results in a manuscript worthy of publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals. |
| CHEM 464 Chemical Kinetics & Dynamics | Spring | This course explores the time course of chemical and physical changes at a molecular level. Students will learn ways to quantitatively describe the speed of chemical reactions and the rate at which physical properties, such as heat and energy, are transferred. This foundational knowledge will enable students to design or predict the speed of chemical reactions, and to evaluate how efficiently properties like heat and energy are conducted through materials. Additionally, the course offers valuable insights for approaching a complex and difficult problem by breaking it into manageable components. |
| CHEM 466 Molecular Thermodynamics | Spring |
Thermodynamics explores the connection between energy and whether or not a reaction will occur. This course explains how the behavior of molecules shapes the rules of thermodynamics. Students will learn about concepts like entropy, free energy, and equilibrium and how these ideas apply to chemical processes and phase changes. The course also explores practical examples, such as how thermodynamics helps us understand biomolecules and design new materials. It’s a great choice for students who have taken a thermodynamics class and want to dive deeper into the subject |