Department Chair: Warren
Kosman, Ph.D.
Neils Science Center 211 | 219-464-5387
Warren.Kosman@valpo.edu
Majors Offered:
Chemistry, B.A., B.S.
Professional Chemistry,
B.S.
Links to Web sites:
Catalog: Department of
Chemistry
Department of Chemistry(department maintained)
VALPO CHEMISTRY MAJORS explore the fundamental nature of matter, investigate changes in energy, and identify properties accompanying compositional changes in matter. They gain a solid base of knowledge that prepares them for a variety of careers.
What Is Distinctive About Valpo's Program?
Valpo's Department of Chemistry is one of only 24 chemistry
departments nationwide that receive student scholarship and research funding
from the Dow Chemical Company Foundation. Valpo was chosen for this honor
based upon the record of alumni success in obtaining Ph.D.'s in Chemistry.
Almost two-thirds of Valpo's Chemistry majors attend graduate or professional
schools.
What Can You Do With This Major?
Degree,
Skills, or Experience Needed for Beginning A Job In This Field:
A Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry is adequate for many jobs.
A Ph.D. in Chemistry will broaden the opportunities.
Kinds
of Work Available to Graduates in This Major:
Over 9,000 companies offer career opportunities for students with training
in the field of chemistry. These are a few of the industrial options
and other possibilities for people with a background in chemistry.
Analytical chemist |
Technical
writer |
In addition to the private sector, careers in teaching at the secondary level and a great variety of jobs with governmental agencies (such as EPA, OSHA, or the various national laboratories) are possibilities. Obtaining the Ph.D. degree in Chemistry opens up additional opportunities for work in basic research and development and also careers in teaching at the college level.
Potential
Hiring Institutions:
A wide variety of industrial concerns require the Chemistry major.
Valpo Chemistry graduates have gone on to work for companies including
Abbott Laboratories, Bethlehem Steel, Dow Chemical, Du Pont, Eli Lilly,
Monsanto, NASA, Proctor & Gamble, and Standard Oil.
Graduate Schools:
Each year about two-thirds of Valpo Chemistry graduates go on to some
of the best graduate schools, such as California Institute of Technology,
University of Californis-Berkeley, University of Illinois, University
of Chicago, Northwestern, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford.
Almost all graduate students in Chemistry or Biochemistry are fully supported
through teaching assistantships or fellowships, including the National
Science Foundation and Woodrow Wilson Fellowships.
What Beyond-the-Classroom Opportunities Does Valpo Offer in This Field?
Extracurricular Groups:
In addition to participating in Chemistry
Club and Phi Lambda Upsilon - Chemistry Honrary Society, students may
find working as a Chemistry lab assistant after their freshman year to
be especially rewarding.
Laboratory Instruments:
Silicon Graphics O2 work station for molecular modeling; superconducting
Fourier transform nuclear magnetic spectrometer; Fourier transfrom infrared
spectrometer; visible and ultraviolet spectrometers (one with diode array);
gas chromatographs; high performance liquid chromatograph cone with mass
spectrometer; protein sequencer; x-ray diffraction equipment; calorimeter;
Raman laser spectrometer; protein sequencer; atomic absorption spectrometer;
inductively coupled plasma spectrometer; gel electrophoresis
Notable Alumni
Frederic M. Bernthal, former Deputy Director of the National
Science Foundation
Robert Bryant, research scientist at NASA and winner of the "Top
100 Inventions" two years in a row
John Fackler, Dean of the Science Division at Texas A & M University
Grant Krafft, Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer, Acumen Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
Lowell P. Hager professor, University of Illinois and a National
Academy of Sciences inductee
Heather (Mitchell) Johnson, obstetrician and gynecologist, Columbia
Women's Hospital, Washington, D.C.
