Chemistry information sheet

CHEMISTRY

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The Dordt Difference Studying chemistry at Dordt College will help you understand the complexity and appreciate the greatness of God’s creation. Professors bring a Christ-centered approach to their teaching and professional work.

As a Dordt College chemistry major, you’ll be challenged through in-depth class and lab work, summer research projects, and teaching assistantships. You will have access to a wide range of chemistry instrumentation, and you’ll experience the support of experienced, caring, and dedicated faculty who are readily available to help both in and out of class and lab.

Dordt graduates entering the workforce or pursuing graduate degrees report that they are well-prepared for the rigors of doing chemistry at advanced levels. For the past 25 years, nearly all Dordt chemistry majors who have applied to medical school or other professional programs such as pharmacy, dentistry, and physical therapy have been accepted into those programs.

EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING Students can collaborate on research with chemistry faculty during the semester (for credit) or during the summer (as paid research assistants). Some examples include: • Exploring how changes in protein structure can help us discover and understand new anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory drugs and developing ways of analyzing biological samples using chemiluminscence.

(D. Stoub, funded by NIH) • Developing new catalysts for producing biodiesel fuel. (C. Fictorie) • Creating computer models to explore the weather on exoplanets (planets orbing stars other than the sun). (C. Visscher, funded by the NSF and NASA) • Students co-author peer-reviewed manuscripts and present at national and regional conferences.

Chemistry students have participated in research at other universities through the National Science Foundation’s Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) and with federal laboratories.

Most majors serve as laboratory or classroom assistants, combining student employment income with on-the-job training in research and teaching.

FACILITIES Dordt’s chemistry and physics facilities include three large laboratories for general use and four smaller ones for upper-level courses and individual and small-group projects.

Specialized equipment includes:

• a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer • a Fourier-transform infrared spectrophotometer

THE PROGRAM The chemistry major includes courses in biochemistry, organic, analytic, inorganic, environmental, and physical chemistry; courses in mathematics and physics; and courses that look at philosophical and historical perspectives on the physical sciences. Some students combine a chemistry major with a major in physics, math, biology, philosophy, or engineering. During the summer, you can earn credit toward the major by taking summer courses at the Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies. Students can earn a B.A. or B.S. degree in chemistry.

• a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer • ultra-violet/visible spectrophotometers • a high-pressure liquid chromatograph • an atomic absorption spectrophotometer • a LICOR DNA sequencer

Chemistry major—A great option for those interested in a career in research or chemical analysis or in doing graduate work or entering preprofessional health programs.

Chemistry secondary education—An option that combines the chemistry program with education courses to prepare you for a career in teaching. The program offers a teaching endorsement in chemistry only or in combination with biology, physics, or earth science. To learn more about the education program at Dordt College, go to www.dordt.edu.

Chemistry minor—An option that combines an interest in chemistry with another major—for example, biology, business, or criminal justice.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Chemistry is a versatile and stimulating major. A chemistry major from Dordt College can take you to graduate school, a job in industry, a research position, or teaching. Dordt chemistry majors have enrolled at graduate schools in the U.S. and Canada and have received significant assistantships in a variety of graduate programs.

Graduates have also obtained excellent positions with local and national companies as teachers, doctors, engineers, salespeople, pharmacists, executives, and more.

The great need for well-trained science teachers in North America’s schools means that Dordt teacher education graduates in the sciences have little problem finding jobs.

THE FACULTY Carl Fictorie, Ph.D., University of Minnesota. Teaches general, quantum, environmental, and inorganic chemistry and quantitative analysis. His areas of interest are biodiesel synthesis from local feedstocks.

Carl.Fictorie@dordt.edu Darren Stoub, Ph.D., University of Rochester, Browne-Coxe Post-doctoral Research Fellow in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University. Teaches general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and medicinal chemistry. His recent research investigates and modifies protein structure as a tool to discovering and understanding novel drugs and bioanalytical tools.

Darren.Stoub@dordt.edu Channon Visscher, Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis. Post-doctoral Fellow at the Lunar and Planetary Institute. Interests include exploring chemistry and cloud formation in the atmospheres of giant planets and the formation the Earth’s Moon. Teaches general chemistry, thermodynamics, astronomy, and Earth sciences.

Channon.Visscher@dordt.edu

August 2015