Chemistry, ACS Certified
Our chemistry, ACS certified program is designed for students interested in working as practicing chemists or a career in scientific research. The major is proudly certified by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and prepares graduates for immediate employment in government or industry labs as well as admission to graduate school.
Experience Excellent Chemistry Career Preparation
Rooted in undergraduate research, the chemistry, ACS certified major provides countless opportunities for experimentation and discovery. In addition to research-embedded curriculum, faculty members within the department will regularly invite you to join their latest research projects — or encourage you to start your own. These unique opportunities allow you to use an impressive array of modern instrumentation, co-author manuscripts, and work with experts from renowned organizations like Mayo Clinic Health System.
The curriculum throughout the major includes core courses in chemistry, physics, and mathematics, with a variety of chemistry electives to choose from. Course topics include chemical analysis, inorganic compounds and reactions, mechanics, fundamentals of biochemistry, and quantitative study of the physical properties of matter. A required capstone reinforces fundamental concepts and will improve your technical writing and laboratory skills.
Whether you're headed to graduate school or to jobs in industry, you'll leave UW-Eau Claire ready to hit the ground running. This major offers excellent preparation for graduate students, as well as immediate employment in a wide range of industries, including health care, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, nutrition, and much more. Real-world experience, exceptional career preparation, and an impressive set of technical and communication skills continually set our graduates apart and allow them to excel in whatever they do.
Program Details
Accreditation Information
The department of chemistry and biochemistry is approved by the American Chemical Society (ACS) to certify the ACS Chemistry degrees.
The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at UW-Eau Claire is home to a suite of state-of-the-art instrumentation for chemical analysis — and you'll have direct access to it. This includes an X-ray diffractometer, an optical cryostat, a jet-cooled expansion system, and a supercomputing cluster (BGSC) — a high-performance computing system that provides resources that are on par with (or above) what is available at most major research institutions. You'll also be able to use specialized laboratories, including a laser spectroscopy lab, a low-temperature spectroscopy lab, a computational lab and a thermal analysis lab.
The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department has a long tradition of productive collaborative research partnerships between undergraduate students and faculty. These experiences often lead to published papers in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at regional, national and international meetings. Previous research projects have ranged from work on self-repairing LC displays on phones, TVs, and monitor screens to mucin peptides and how they might be used as antigens against some cancers.
As a chemistry major, you'll find countless internships, seminars, lectures and nationally funded summer research opportunities available to you. These experiences allow you to explore career paths, gain valuable career experience and work with experts in the chemical industry. A series of lectures by faculty and speakers from industry will introduce you to various chemical and related industries as well as career opportunities and their qualifications. Participating companies have included organizations like Univar, Ecolab, Hydrite Chemical, 3M, Boston Scientific and Nestle USA.
This degree is proudly certified by the American Chemical Society, which speaks to the quality of the program. The extra rigor and additional requirements found in a certified degree program — including the breadth and depth of curriculum, the qualifications of the faculty, the campus facilities, the department instrumentation, and the opportunities for students to conduct meaningful research — are highly regarded by potential employers and graduate schools.
Blugold Stories
One of the reasons why I chose UW-Eau Claire was because the research opportunities here are just amazing. It is beyond what's normal for a primary undergraduate institution, and the chem department's choices for research is uncanny. You have choices from inorganic to P-chem to organic synthesis to fluorescence. I'm loving it. It would be one of my biggest recommendations for incoming students to join.
Participating in research has been the foundation of my college experience. I love the "aha" moments of research — not just the moment when success happens but more the moments when something clicks and makes sense. Research has made making connections the most rewarding part of learning.
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Where can the chemistry, ACS certified program lead me after graduation?
The UW-Eau Claire chemistry department is nationally recognized as one of the top undergraduate chemistry departments in the country. So it's no surprise our graduates are doing big things. From working as a research technologist at Mayo Clinic to improving production at 3M to excelling as a lab technician at Berry Global, our graduates go on to work at renowned organizations all over the country.
Curriculum throughout the chemistry, ACS certified program prepares students to function effectively and professionally as practicing chemists in graduate programs and/or in careers in government or industry labs. A variety of electives allow you to personalize your education and study the topics that most interest you.
Here are a few courses in Chemistry, ACS Certified at UW-Eau Claire.
CHEM 115
Chemical Principles
Principles of chemistry, including chemical properties and the periodic table, atomic structure, chemical bonding, equilibria, thermodynamics, acid-base reactions, oxidation-reduction reactions and complexation reactions.
CHEM 352
Fundamentals of Biochemistry
This course is designed for nonbiochemistry/molecular biology science majors who require a one semester course in biochemistry. The fundamental chemical, structural, and metabolic aspects of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids are covered.
CHEM 325
Organic Chemistry I with Laboratory
Introduces molecular structure and bonding, organic nomenclature, acid/base properties of organic compounds, stereochemistry, resonance, mechanisms, and synthetic reactions illustrating functional group interconversion. Microscale laboratory techniques for the preparation, isolation, purification, and characterization of organic compounds.
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