Lawrence Chemistry Research

Students find that research in the Chemistry Department at Lawrence is an exciting way to expand the knowledge and skills they have acquired in classes. Because Lawrence is exclusively an undergraduate institution, all research activity in the department involves undergraduate students and their teachers. Most chemistry majors engage in some research project during their years at Lawrence, either in the summer (for $$) or during the academic year (for course credit -- "Independent Study in Chemistry"). Their projects are of several types. Most involve laboratory work, but some are primarily computational and others are curricular or pedagogical or rely heavily on the library.

Most student research projects grow out of, and contribute to, the ongoing research interests of the faculty. Those research interests range widely over the discipline of chemistry, so students have many choices of this sort. For more information about those faculty research programs, check the "Faculty" entries on the navigation menu at the left margin of this page. Some students do propose projects of their own, which don't necessarily relate closely to a faculty member's current research. As long as a faculty member agrees to provide some supervision (including, for example, safety advice), and as long as the cost is manageable, students are welcome to pursue their ideas.

Some student projects lead to "Honors in Independent Study" at graduation. To earn honors, a student writes an undergraduate thesis describing and reporting on the project. Such theses are normally completed and submitted during the spring term of the senior year. The thesis is defended in an oral examination before a committee composed of the student's project advisor, at least two other faculty members, one of whom must be from outside the department, and a representative of the college Faculty Committee on Honors. Based on the quality of the thesis, the research, and the examination, that committee recommends to the faculty whether the student should receive Honors at Graduation, and a level of honors: cum Laude (with honors); magna cum Laude (with high honors); summa cum Laude (with highest honors).

Some student projects have also led to presentations at national meetings or publications in professional scientific journals. Within the past several years, students have presented their work at meetings of the American Chemical Society and The Biophysical Society, and at a National Organic Chemistry Symposium, as well as at undergraduate symposia sponsored by the Pew Midstates Science and Mathematics Consortium, the National Council on Undergraduate Research, and other organizations. Papers with student co-authors have been published in journals including The Journal of Organic Chemistry, Acta Crystalographica, Langmuir, and Biochimica et Biophysica Acta.

Off-Campus Study and Research

Off-campus study is an important part of the Lawrence experience, and chemistry majors can build such opportunities into their programs in several ways. Some advance planning is important, so that requirements can be met in an orderly way, but students have participated in the Lawrence London Center, language programs sponsored either by Lawrence or by the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM, to which Lawrence belongs), or other ACM programs abroad. Of particular interest to chemistry majors is the Oak Ridge Science Semester program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. This program provides seniors a chance to spend the fall term in a national laboratory working on a research project with the laboratory's scientists. Another program appealing to students with interest in environmental chemistry is the "Biosphere 2: Earth Semester."

There are many opportunities for off-campus research, study, or internships during the summer. We've collected a number of web links to sites that offer information regarding opportunities during the summer of 2005. That list will be updated as more information becomes available.