Honors Program

The main goal of the honors program is to train talented undergraduate students in chemistry through intellectually engaging and highly interactive classes and original laboratory research.

The heart of the program consists of four one-semester courses and three specially designed laboratory sections. These courses are designed to teach all the important fundamentals of chemistry in the context of their significance to modern medicine and novel technologies. Classes are highly interactive and utilize the state-of-the-art in audiovisual aids. Laboratory sessions include the use of state-of-the-art instruments (NMR) and are designed to teach critical concepts in observation, data collection and the art of teamwork in science. Smaller class size provides nearly complete and open access to the faculty and teaching assistants (top graduate students).

The Honors Program is based on the philosophy of "teaching through research." Concepts in the classroom are taught based on modern research results. The fourth Honors laboratory often involves a three-month stay in a research group. By the end of their sophomore year, most of the Honors students have selected and officially joined a research group.

The Honors Track

Selected first-year students are invited to enroll in the honors courses CHEM1117-1118 Honors Modern Chemistry and the associated laboratory courses CHEM1119-1120 Honors Modern Chemistry Laboratory. These courses are taken in place of CHEM1109-1110 and CHEM1111-1112 in the first year. In the second year, honors track students enroll in CHEM2241-2242 Honors Organic Chemistry and also take CHEM2243 Honors Organic Chemistry Laboratory followed by CHEM2234 Organic Chemistry Laboratory. If you are interested in the honors track, contact the professor who is teaching the course to discuss enrolling in it.