Chemistry (BA)

Chemistry

Federal CIP: 40.0501 Chemistry, General

Chemistry, also known as the central science, is the study of everything around us, the changes that they undergo, and man’s interaction with the environment. Knowledge of the principles of chemistry can facilitate understanding of other sciences, including physics, biology, geology, astronomy, oceanography, engineering, and medicine. What is unique about a chemistry degree is that graduates can move to other areas of science such as biochemistry, biology, clinical laboratory sciences, geology, forensic sciences, environmental sciences, engineering and medicine very easily for post graduate studies. Chemistry graduates can do anything from Pharmacy, Petroleum Engineering, Chemical engineering, Polymer Engineering, Materials Engineering, Renewable Energy Engineering, Drug production (Medicinal Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry), Food technology, textile Technology, etc. This major is open to whoever is interested in an exciting, dynamic, and challenging research career involving problem solving in industries and government agencies (EPA, FBI, NIH, DOE, DOH, DHS, NSF) and national/educational research facilities.

Learning Outcomes

Students completing these majors or degrees will:

• be expected to approach current ethical issues from a biblical perspective.
• be able to comprehend, explain, and analyze chemical phenomena at the subatomic, atomic, and molecular levels related to inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry, and utilize appropriate chemical analysis techniques and standard laboratory equipment.
• be able to locate, comprehend, and communicate about scientific literature, and present literature and laboratory findings in oral and written form.
• demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the use and structure of the periodic table, the ability to balance chemical equations, the ability to use stoichiometric relationships in chemical equations, to use chromatography, titrate a solution, use an electronic balance, pipet properly and identify unknowns.
• understand the basics of phase change thermodynamics, be able to discuss and analyze energy transfer in a chemical reaction, and demonstrate the principles behind qualitative and quantitative analysis.
• be able to recognize the major functional groups, be able to demonstrate the use of the IUPAC rules for nomenclature of organic compounds, and possess the ability to interpret mass spectrometry spectra and proton NMR spectra of relatively simple compounds, use UV to NIR spectrophotometers, chromatography techniques, and electrophoresis properly.
• be able to recognize, produce, and solve linear and quadratic equations, slopes and intercepts, and apply these concepts to chemical phenomena. They should be able to relate first and second derivatives to spectral interpretation and should understand the meaning and use of integrals of two- and three-dimensional representations.

Chemistry BA Requirements