Chemistry

Chemistry Curriculum

As a chemistry major, study inorganic, organic, analytical, and physical chemistry in great depth. In your elective choices, you’ll expand your knowledge in specialty areas like forensic chemistry, advanced spectral analysis, applied thermodynamics and kinetics, and neurochemistry. 

Dive into vital research through hands-on laboratory courses, including wet chemical and instrumental analysis techniques, and use our extensive high-tech spectrometry and chromatography equipment. You’ll also gain experiential practice through individual research, student organizations, and internship opportunities.

Chemistry Experiential Learning

Real-world experience is essential to the bachelor’s in chemistry curriculum at Mount Union. These extracurricular and work-based opportunities help strengthen your skills and knowledge in chemistry, meaning you’ll strengthen your position as an applicant for professional roles and graduate programs. 

Seize hands-on practice through:

• Independent undergraduate research
• Research with faculty or student peers
• Summer research projects with Mount Union faculty members through the Pappenhagen Research Award
• Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), a competitive research program sponsored by the National Science Foundation
• Laboratory experience
• Membership in chemistry student organizations
• Internships
• Working our summer science camp
• Teaching chemistry to Alliance-area youth

Student Organizations

Student organizations can ignite your passions and expand your ideas of what teamwork, networking, and leadership can look like during your chemistry degree. These opportunities contribute to the holistic learning experience at Mount Union, where we value every chance to teach and grow. 

Join your peers in:

• American Chemical Society
• Alembroic Society (chemistry honor society)

Internships

Graduate with two impressive lines on your resume: a BS in Chemistry and an internship. By taking on an elective or extracurricular internship, you’ll demonstrate to employers and graduate school admissions teams that you are passionate, experienced, and willing to take risks to achieve your goals. 

Mount Union’s robust classroom and lab-based learning equips you to excel in internship roles with employers like:

• State of Ohio Crime Lab
• Firestone
• Sherwin-Williams

Teaching Chemistry To Alliance Youth 

As a first-year student in Dr. Sheryl Mason’s Organic and Biochemistry for Nursing class, you’ll teach high-level scientific principles to elementary students! These engaging experiments include “Crush the Can,” “Growling Gummy Bear,” and “Glow-germ Lotion.” Do you remember any complex chemistry lessons from your elementary school days?

Facilities and Equipment

Here in the Bracy Hall of Science, you’ll access leading edge instrumentation, computer resources, library books, and journals. These high-quality tools are hard to find in other programs of our size, and they facilitate rewarding academic experiences—both in the classroom and in your independent research.

Chemists utilize many high-tech instruments to determine the properties of molecules. Listed below are the major instruments you may use as you work toward your BS in Chemistry.

Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR)

Different types of molecular bonds absorb infrared light differently. We can measure this absorption with a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR) and identify which types of bonds (and therefore which functional groups) are present in a sample. This helps us determine some of the chemical features of a given molecule.

Plate Readers

Chemistry majors use plate readers to measure the absorbance or fluorescence of many very small samples in a short period of time. We often use these instruments in biochemical studies such as determining the concentration of protein in a sample, monitoring enzymatic reactions, and studying protein-DNA binding.

Gas Chromatograph (GC)

A Gas Chromatograph (GC) vaporizes a sample and moves it through a column of tubing. The rate of migration of a given molecule through the column depends on its attraction to the column material. This causes the components of a sample to separate. As the components exit the column, their relative amounts are detected. The technique can be used to determine the purity of a sample, how many components are in the sample, and some information about the chemical properties of the components.

Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS)

A Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) takes the GC a step further. After the molecules have been separated by a GC, they are analyzed by mass spectrometry, which precisely determines the molecular mass of the molecules present in the sample. Mass spectrometry may also cause fragmentation of the molecules, which can give further insight into the molecule’s structure. This technique can positively identify the molecules present in a sample, and is often used in forensics, drug analysis, and disease identification.

High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)

Similar to the GC, in High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), the sample travels through a column, this time as a liquid solution. We use HPLC to analyze the contents of samples such as pharmaceuticals and consumer products, and to monitor enzymatic reactions.

Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AA)

If an atom becomes excited, it can emit light of specific wavelengths. These wavelengths differ by the identity of the atom. The Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AA) excites a sample and measures the resulting atomic absorption spectrum. This spectrum acts like a fingerprint, and we can determine if a particular atom is present in the sample.

Ultraviolet-Visible Spectrophotometer (UV-VIS)

A UV-visible spectrophotometer measures the degree to which a sample absorbs light in the ultraviolet and visible regions of the spectrum. This technique can be used to determine the concentration of a molecule in a sample or to give clues to the identity of the compounds present in a sample.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (NMR)

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is a powerful technique that applies a strong magnetic field to a sample, causing the spins of the atomic nuclei to align. When radio waves are applied to the sample, some of the nuclei become unaligned (flipped). The frequency of the radio wave required to flip a given nucleus depends on the chemical environment of the atom.

The spectrometer measures how the sample absorbs these radio waves, allowing us to determine a great deal of information about the chemical structure of the sample.