Internships
Students interested in extra-curricular
activities can explore a wide range of research opportunities available
during both the summer months and the school year. Research projects
equip students with practical skills in organization, problem-solving
and teamwork. Faculty members encourage ambitious students to pursue
these areas of study to prepare them for experiences beyond college.
Research Opportunities
Student Research Training Program
The
Student Research Training Program allows students to work one-on-one
with faculty during the summer months to conduct original research.
Students are paid a stipend for approximately an eight-week period of
full-time research. Often the summer work results in a paper
presentation at a professional meeting such as the Indiana Academy of
Sciences or a journal publication.
These experiences are fulfilling in themselves but they also improve job and graduate school applications. Each member of the chemistry department has specific research interests. Contact faculty members to receive more information on areas of study.
Independent Research
Students
may also choose to do research as a course (CHE 450) during the
academic year. This advanced learning experience also contributes to
successful job and graduate school applications.
Course Research Projects
Certain
courses include a research component that allows students to
participate in original research. Organic laboratory students in their
second semester work in groups to solve a problem in organic chemistry.
Work is generally started in previous classes. Students do a literature
search, plan work and conduct the synthesis, analyses and other
experiments. The experience culminates in an oral presentation of the
results.
Some students in the physical chemistry laboratory do research projects generally dealing with some aspect of thermodynamics, kinetics, photochemistry, molecular structure, computer interfacing or computational chemistry.
