Student Information
Scholarships
Over the past 15 years, the department has awarded over 200 scholarships totaling almost $34,000. Applications are now being accepted for Spring Semester scholarships.
Spring Semester Scholarship Eligibility Requirements
Chemistry Major or Minor Scholarship Application Form
B.S. Science Teaching--Chemistry Emphasis Major Scholarship Application Form
Research Information
Student-faculty collaborative research is a strength of the department. Research projects are ongoing in the areas of analytical, physical, organic, inorganic, and biochemistry. The research experience may be as short as a single semester or it may last for a year and even culminate to a published paper. All students who are pursuing an American Chemical Society approved major must complete one year of undergraduate research. Please take a few minutes to check out the exciting research opportunities available.
American Chemical Society Meeting 2008
Every year the department sends a number of students to present their research at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society.
Presentation of results from undergraduate research projects at national and international level research meetings is strongly encouraged by the faculty in the department of chemistry. On an average 3-4 students present their research at the national level research meetings every year. Some the travel cost to these meetings is sponsored by their faculty advisors through their research grants. The COSE dean's office generously supports travel by students via granting them up to $500 from the student professional development funds. The national American Chemical Society (ACS) meetings are the most commonly attended meeting by our students and faculty.
In most recent ACS meeting (August 2008), Dr. Mark Mechelke took three of his research students (Kerrie Walters, Allisa Dillman, and Sarah Winkleman) to Boston to present the results of their undergraduate research.
Student Awards 2008
Twenty-Fifth Annual Awards Banquet
Every year the department hosts an awards banquet to recognize the top students in each area of chemistry, as well as the scholarship winners for the upcoming fall semester.
The Twenty-Fifth Annual Chemistry Banquet was held on Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at the Kelly Inn.
Click on the thumbnails to the right to view each photo.
Not Pictured:
Chemistry Scholarship: Shiang Cheng
2008 SCSU Student Research Colloquium
Thirty undergraduate research student presentations, sponsored by nine faculty members in the department of chemistry, presented their research findings at the 2008 SCSU Student Research Colloquium on April 22, 2008. The chemistry department was very well represented in both oral and poster presentations; in fact the Department sponsored the second largest number of students at the Colloquium. The annual research colloquium provides our students an opportunity to gain experience with the presentation of their results to the larger community as well as allows them to experience the breadth of research activity at SCSU. Students and faculty alike were pleased to see the high level of research activity in the chemistry department and college of science and engineering.
Click on the thumbnails to the right to view each photo.
Student Research Colloquium Archive
Senior Thesis 2008
On Saturday morning, April 26th, 2008, twenty-two students presented seminars based upon either their laboratory research or a based upon a literature review. The seminars lasted approximately 30 minutes followed by a 10-minute question/answer session. This event was part of the Senior Thesis requirement for all students graduating with a degree from the Chemistry Department. In addition to the seminar, students completed a research paper on the same topic to satisfy SCSU's upper division writing requirement.
Click on the thumbnails to the right to view each photo.
Community Based Activites
Husky Volunteers for Science
"Husky Volunteers for Science" is a volunteer program developed to take teams of St. Cloud State University undergraduate students into classrooms to perform hands-on experiments with fourth grade elementary school students. During the past two years, we have "adopted" all of the fourth grade classrooms at Oak Hill Elementary School. Every semester, each fourth grade classroom is visited three times by teams of eight undergraduate students led by Dr. Tamara Leenay and/or Dr. Mark Mechelke. The undergraduate students typically work with a group of four elementary school students, helping them perform the activities which range from identifying a mystery powder, to using chromatography to identify who wrote a ransom note, to learning about exothermic and endothermic reactions. In the past two years, the program has been very successful and rewarding. Approximately thirty-two undergraduate student volunteers and one hundred and twenty fourth grade students participate in the program each semester. For more information, contact Dr. Tamara Leenay (tleenay@stcloudstate.edu) or Dr. Mark Mechelke (mfmechelke@stcloudstate.edu).
