In today's chemical industry employers are looking for more in the employees they hire. In addition to a broad education in all aspects of chemistry new employees are expected to be cogniscent of issues such as safety, intellectual property, laboratory information systems, government regulations, and current trends in the discipline. Written and oral communication skills are also important as are abiliities to work as part of a team and independently. Our graduates gain all these skills through their B.S. in Chemistry.

Our vision is based around graduating the best educated and most talented scientists we can. This is acheived via a rigorous undergraduate curriculum in chemistry, supplemented by foundation courses in math and physics. Students are expected to perform well in both lecture and laboratory and so the majority of chemistry classes are in combined lecture and laboratory format. Upper level students are expected to be more self directed in laboratories giving them a chance to really develop into being a "chemist".

Research experience is also encouraged for all chemistry majors. This not only allows students to improve their laboratory skills but also gives them a taste of graduate school, before they make a decision on their career path. Students have options to work part-time in local industry, apply for co-ops with local companies, and apply for both internal and external schlorships for research. Our senior level course "Senior Seminar" is designed to instruct students about speaking and writing like a scientist. Patents, intellectual property, scientific literature, and Internet science are all covered.

Lastly, wherever possible we try to get students to attend a major chemistry conference, and many students do this through presenting their chemical research at poster sessions. Exposing chemistry majors to as many different opportunitites in/perspectives of science gives our students tools they will need to suceed in their careers.