B.S. in Chemistry

University of Maine

The Department of Chemistry offers two options for the B.S. degree in chemistry: The B.S. degree or the B.S. degree with ACS certification.B.S. Degree (Non-certified)This degree option is excellent for students considering pre-medical, pre-veterinary, pharmacy, or double majors. The B.S. allows students flexibility in their programs so that they may choose suitable electives to prepare for medical, veterinary, and other health professional schools, work in environmental testing and remediation, or work in the pharmaceutical industry. Students also have the option of taking business, law, computer science, materials science, or other courses to complement their chemistry curriculum. Students must take a minimum of 49 credits of course work in chemistry.B.S. with ACS certificationThe American Chemical Society certified B.S. degree in chemistry prepares the student for employment in the chemical industry or for graduate studies in chemistry or a related field. Students must take a minimum of 58 credits of course work in chemistry.Objectives of the program:Employment as a practicing chemist, or where chemical and technical knowledge and skills are beneficialEntrance into a graduate program in chemistry or a related field, orEntrance into a professional degree program (e.g., medicine, dentistry, law, or veterinary science).Learning Outcomes of the program:Mastery of basic and advanced chemical conceptsMastery of fundamental laboratory techniquesMastery of basic computer programs commonly used in scientific workProficiency in using instrumentation commonly found in modern chemistry laboratories and the ability to interpret the data obtained from these instrumentsProficiency in Problem Solving SkillsDefining problems to develop testable hypothesesDesigning and executing experiments so that appropriate statistical methods are used to analyze dataUnderstanding uncertainty and limitations in measurement and outcomesProficiency in Communication SkillsAbility to write in a style proper for reports in scientific journals and the ability to give scientific presentations of an appropriate qualityWriting clear proposed methods and techniques as well as results and dataProficiency in Information Management SkillsSuccessfully searching and understanding chemical literature to design experiments and explain observed experimental phenomenaKeeping clear laboratory notebooks, properly archiving data, and labeling samplesReferencing appropriate literature and resultsSearching technical databases (includes structure searching)Assessing quality of informationCritical evaluation of articlesProficiency in Teamwork SkillsWorking and communicating with others to solve scientific problemsProperly assigning credit for others’ work and citing literatureEffectively distributing tasks among group members, meeting deadlines, and working as a group to develop and report results and conclusionsUnderstanding of Professional EthicsStudents should display high personal standards and integrityStudents should conduct themselves responsibly,Students should be aware of contemporary issues related to chemistry.