Access to lab facilities, early research opportunities with faculty members and small classes at The College of Wooster give Chemistry majors lots of choices after graduation. Wooster is a national leader among private four-year undergraduate institutions when it comes to the number of graduates who go on to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry. Wooster ranks third among U.S. institutions where women doctorate recipients in chemistry earn bachelor’s degrees according to a 2019 report published by the Council of Independent Colleges and based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics and National Science Foundation. About 50% of our graduates go on to Ph.D. programs; another 20% enroll in medical or dental school. Other graduates are employed as teachers or work in labs for Merck, Eli Lilly & Co., Agilent and more.
In addition to core courses, all students at The College of Wooster complete independent research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. This focused research project (of the student’s design) gives chemistry majors several semesters to develop research and presentation skills, culminating in a presentation to a faculty panel. Chemistry majors build professional skills for careers in the sciences, while also building critical thinking skills and expanding their perspectives through the variety of courses available at a small, private liberal arts college.
Sealts Distinguished Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Theron L. Peterson and Dorothy R. Peterson Professor of Chemistry; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Assistant Professor of Chemistry; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (On Leave for Spring 2025)
Instrument and Lab Tech/Machinist - Biology, Chemistry, Earth Sciences, Physics
Robert E. Wilson Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Professor of Chemistry and Dean for Faculty Development
Sara Martin, assistant professor of chemistry at The College of Wooster, and five undergraduate students in her chemistry lab recently published research that may […]
A new environmental monitoring tool, developed and initially tested in The College of Wooster lab of Paul Edmiston, Theron L. Peterson and Dorothy R. […]
Mako Shimizu ’26 a neuroscience major and chemistry minor at The College of Wooster, completed an APEX fellowship at Imai Lab at Kyusyu University […]
Interdisciplinary research by a team of five faculty members and two students from The College of Wooster recreated a gravitational astrophysical phenomenon in a […]
Chemistry majors follow a curriculum informed by the American Chemical Society’s Committee on Professional Training comprised of courses across the major subdisciplines of chemistry.
The major requires completion of 15 course credits and room for electives and foundational courses in the liberal arts. Three semesters’ worth of work on Independent Study are factored into the major course of study.
View CoursesA minor in chemistry requires completion of six courses:
The College of Wooster is nationally recognized for its program of Independent Study, and for more than 50 years the College has required that every graduate complete a significant Independent Study project under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Chemistry majors begin identifying the project that will be the subject of their Independent Study thesis early in their junior year. Seniors set aside both semesters of their senior year to work on and deliver their projects.
| Student | Year | I.S. Title | Major 1 | Major 2 | Advisor |
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Ferdawss Ihiri ’23 grew up in Morocco, where students who wish to study abroad typically attend school in Paris. Traveling to the United States […]
Name: Nosherwan Mughal Major: Biology Minor: Chemistry Advisor: Laura Sirot Aedes aegypti are notorious vectors that transmit deadly pathogens to humans. Odorant Binding Protein […]
Name: Sarah Mullen Major: Chemistry Minor: Mathematics Advisors: Dr. Karl Feierabend, Dr. Sarah Sobeck (second reader) Computational chemistry uses computer simulations to solve chemical […]
Name: David DiGena-Segal Major: Chemistry Advisors: Jennifer A. Faust, Rebekah E. Gray, and Paul L. Edmiston Pesticides are commonly found environmental contaminants and health […]
Approximately 50 percent of Wooster chemistry graduates enter Ph.D. programs in areas including chemistry, environmental science, biochemistry and epidemiology. Another 18 percent have gone on to health professional schools. Graduates in chemistry have won Fulbright Awards and have gone on to earn advanced degrees at some of the nation’s most prestigious research universities.
Jason Rosch ’01 initially chose The College of Wooster for its small class sizes, engaged faculty, and tight-knit community, as well as the emphasis […]
In 2020, of the 13,204 babies born in Cuyahoga County, 101 didn’t make it to their first birthday. The majority (73%) of these babies […]
Lecture, endowment honor legacy of Helen Murray Free at Wooster
Megan Cooper ’95 leads a research laboratory that is part of the international COVID Human Genetic Effort
Helen Murray Free, a 1945 College of Wooster graduate and a pioneering scientist who was inducted into the National Inventor’s Hall of Fame in 2000, was honored with the inaugural Helen Murray Free Endowed Lecture, featuring Dr. Mary Lowe Good.
The lecture series was established by Helen’s children and endowed through the Al and Helen Free Foundation. Each year, this endowed fund brings a renowned chemical scientist to campus to interact with chemistry students at a technical level and present an all-college convocation on the contributions of science to the quality of life.
Free, whose research in clinical chemistry not only revolutionized diagnostic testing in the laboratory, but also in the home, developed the “dip-and-read” glucose tests for diabetics. She was awarded seven patents for her clinical diagnostic test inventions, and also helped to develop a product for diagnosing Hepatitis ‘A’ while working for Miles Laboratories. In addition, she provided invaluable leadership in the testing of newborn infants for genetic or metabolic disorders that might lead to mental retardation.
Throughout her career, Free has been an active advocate of science education. From 1987 to 1992, she chaired the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) National Chemistry Week Task Force. In 1980, she was chosen as one of Wooster’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners; in 1992 she received an honorary degree from Wooster; and in 1993 she was elected president of the American Chemical Society.
Free has authored more than 150 professional articles, and co-authored two widely used textbooks in the field. Her accomplishments have been recognized in a number of ways, including the awarding of the ACS Garvan Medal and the Professional Achievement Award in Nuclear Medicine from the American Society for Medical Technology, as well as the establishment of the ACS Helen M. Free Public Outreach Award.
Dr. Tehshik Yoon, Professor of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Technical Lecture: “Stereocontrol in Photochemical Reactions”
Photochemistry is intriguing as a synthetic tool because the absorption of light by an organic molecule results in the formation of exceptionally energetic reactive intermediates that can react in ways that are inaccessible to ground-state molecules. However, this high reactivity is also a challenge for stereoselective synthesis: control over the stereochemistry of photochemical reactions, particularly using enantioselective catalysts, has been a long-standing challenging synthetic problem with few general solutions. We recently developed a strategy that utilizes privileged chiral Brønsted acid scaffolds to control both the absolute and relative stereochemistry of complex [2+2] photocycloadditions. These reactions have enabled a general, concise, and stereocontrolled strategy for the synthesis of the truxinate and truxillate natural products.
How do we improve small molecule targeting strategies?
Public lecture: “Radical Chemistry: A Case for LGBTQ+ Visibility in STEM”
Tehshik Yoon served as the guest editor for the C&EN 2022 Trailblazers issue celebrating LGBTQ+ chemists. He wrote that he is often questioned as to why there is a need to spotlight LGBTQ+ scientists. He said that the focus is “warranted, timely, and critically necessary.”
Professor Yoon uses his own story and the stories of others, along with facts and data (the tools of scientists), to “paint … a picture of the current landscape facing LGBTQ+ people in the US,” and to “make a strong argument for the power of LGBTQ+ representation in chemistry.”
Both lectures are free and open to the public.
Biography:
Tehshik was born in Montreal, Quebec, and raised in Blacksburg, VA, where his father is a professor of mining engineering at Virginia Tech. Tehshik became intrigued by organic chemistry as an undergraduate, and he had the great fortune to receive his education at every stage of his career in the laboratories of some of the leading figures in contemporary asymmetric synthesis. At Harvard, Tehshik’s first learned about research by studying stereocontrolled aldol reactions in Dave Evans’ lab. His master’s degree with Erick Carreira exposed him to the concept of applying photochemistry to the synthesis of complex natural products. Tehshik then became Dave MacMillan’s first graduate student, first at Berkeley and then at Caltech, with whom he studied methods to control the stereochemistry of pericyclic reactions. As a postdoc, Tehshik returned to Harvard and investigated the use of hydrogen bonding urea catalysts in asymmetric synthesis.
Tehshik has been on the faculty at UW-Madison since 2005, where he is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry. He remains intrigued by the unique ability of chemical synthesis to control molecular shape and function with an atomic level of control. His research group is particularly interested in the application of open-shelled reactive intermediates such as heteroatom-centered radicals, alkene radical cations, and electronically excited organic triplets to complex molecule synthesis. His contributions to pedagogy and research have been recognized with a variety of awards, including the following:
Selected Awards:
Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Award (2015)
William H. Kiekhofer Distinguished Teaching Award (2013)
Eli Lilly Grantee Award (2010)
Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (2010)
Amgen Young Investigator Award (2009)
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2009)
Cottrell Scholar Award (2008)
Beckman Young Investigator Award (2008)
NSF CAREER Award (2007)
2023:
Dr. Amanda Hargrove, Professor of Chemistry, Associate Professor of Biochemistry, Duke University
2023:
Dr. Rigoberto Hernandez, Gompf Family Professor, Department of Chemistry and Professor, Departments of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University; Director, Open Chemistry Collaborative in Diversity Equity (OXIDE)
2021:
Raychelle Burks, associate professor of chemistry at American University and a popular science communicator who has appeared on TV, in podcasts, and at large genre cons such as DragonCon and GreekGirlCon
Malika Jeffries-EL, Ph.D. associate dean, Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, associate professor of chemistry and materials science and engineering, Boston University
2020:
Geraldine (Geri) Richmond, Presidential Chair of Science and professor of chemistry, University of Oregon
2018:
Joseph S. Francisco, President’s Distinguished Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania
2017:
Bassam Z. Shakhashiri,The William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea, Department of Chemistry; Director, Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy, University of Wisconsin-Madison; President, the American Chemical Society, 2012.
2016:
Madeleine Jacobs,President & CEO, Council of Scientific Society Presidents, Former Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the American Chemical Society.
2015:
Ned Heindel, H.S. Bunn Chair Professor of Chemistry at Lehigh University and a consultant on drug development for Azevan Pharmaceuticals.
2014:
Paul Anderson, Retired Senior Vice President of chemical and physical sciences for the DuPont-Merck Pharmaceuticals Company.
2013:
Susan Solomon, Ellen Swallow Richards Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
2012 Fall:
Sam Niedbala, Professor of practice in the Chemistry Department at Lehigh University and CEO of DeTect Biosciences LLC.
2012 Spring:
Catherine Hunt, R&D Director of Innovation Sourcing and Sustainable Technologies at The Dow Chemical Company.
The Department of Chemistry has a wide array of state-of-the-art instrumentation. All of the instruments are intended for use by students in teaching labs and Senior Independent Study.
Two recent acquisitions include a high-resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer and a 400-MHz nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. Both instruments were obtained via grants from the National Science Foundation.
Some of our instrumentation includes the following: