Chemistry and Biochemistry

Letter from the Chair

Welcome!


Whether you are an alum or a prospective student, I’d like to welcome you to the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry web site! We’ve tried to make our web pages informative and useful, so hopefully, you will find what you need. If you can't find what you are looking for, or have other questions, please feel free to contact any chemistry faculty member (click here for e-mails and phone numbers).

The past couple of years have been very busy for the chemists at DePauw. Some of the highlights include:

  • The renovation and expansion of the Julian Science Center is finally complete! I can’t underestimate how this $36,000,000 project has impacted the Department. We now have state-of-the-art laboratories for teaching and research, which reflect the latest thinking in safety and teaching effectiveness. New spaces have been created for chemistry and biochemistry majors to study, our classrooms and computer spaces have the latest technological toys, and our storeroom allows us to service the laboratories much more efficiently.
  • We have recently introduced a novel chemistry curriculum. The "general chemistry" courses have been eliminated, and students can now start with either a course on organic chemistry or inorganic chemistry. Our goals were to design more topically-oriented courses which develop students' interest and which give our chemistry and biochemistry majors a context of "real" chemistry. For other science majors, we wanted to get them the chemistry background they need for their fields, like biology or geology, much sooner. We also wanted to build in more flexibility in course choices and scheduling. All these goals have been accomplished.
  • We have also introduced a new biochemistry major, which has proven very popular, with over 50 majors on campus at this time! Students in this major take courses in both the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and Biology Department. To support this new major, we recently added two new tenure-track biochemists to our staff. In addition, with the renovation, the space devoted exclusively to biochemistry increased dramatically from one converted teaching lab to two teaching labs designed for biochemistry, two cold rooms, a biochemistry-dedicated computer lab, and two biochemistry research labs.
  • Student research has always been important to us, and the level of participation in research during the academic year, winter term and particularly during the summer has increased. We are proud of what our students have accomplished and many of them have given posters at regional and national conferences.

I hope these brief highlights convince you that chemistry and biochemistry are thriving at DePauw. It's a great place to be a faculty member or a student doing science! If you would like to know more about applying to DePauw, the admissions office web site is here. Let them know you are interested in chemistry or biochemistry, and they will arrange for you to meet with a faculty member and visit a class.

More information on all these topics and much more can be found elsewhere in our web site. Click here to start exploring! Again, please don't hesitate to contact us with further questions.

Bridget Gourley
Professor of Chemistry and
Chair of the Department