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Unlimited Pathways to your Career in Chemistry

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE OR ARTS

Chemistry is one of the three basic areas that form the foundation of all science, and is essential for a complete understanding of the physical world. Our chemistry program, planned in accordance with the requirements of the American Chemical Society (ACS), offers a broad selection of courses for students in chemistry and provides an excellent background for any scientific or technological career.

As a chemistry major, laboratory work and research are emphasized throughout your entire learning experience. With modern instrumentation and laboratory facilities, develop excellent laboratory and analytical skills, preparing you for employment in the chemical industry, graduate study in chemistry, or a career in a variety of professional arenas, including pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry.

Want to go the extra mile? Our Bachelor’s to Master’s Option allows you to graduate with a master’s in as little as five years.

Stevenson’s School of Sciences gives you the opportunity to work in and collaborate with multiple labs on campus and prepare for an interdisciplinary science career. All labs are designed to fit 20 students, emphasizing small class sizes and focused faculty-student interaction.

Graduates of the Chemistry program will:

  • ¶ºÄÌÊÓƵ knowledge of chemical principles to the understanding of the world at a molecular level.
  • Plan, design, and safely execute and interpret scientific experiments using the scientific method.
  • Communicate scientific knowledge in clear notebook entries, laboratory reports and poster presentations.
  • Critically evaluate scientific discovery for its scientific merit and in terms of its ethical, societal, and global implications using knowledge of chemical principles.
  • Exhibit behaviors consistent with the professional and ethical standards of the discipline.

Learn and Operate Professional Instrumentation

Experience real instruments that you will use in your future work, such as:

  • Magritek Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer (NMR) – coming January 2025
  • Gas Chromatograph (GC)
  • Mass Spectrometer (MS)
  • Perkin Elmer FT-IT Spectrophotometer
  • Liquid Chromatography (LC)
  • Shimadzu Atomic Absorption Flame Emission Spectrophotometer
  • Carey Fluorescence Spectrophotometer

Experiential Learning: Developing a Chemistry App

When Chemistry Professor Jeremy Burkett, Ph.D., had an idea for a new app that teaches chemistry in a fun way, he went to the experts for feedback: our students. Through their involvement and input, students were able to not only apply classroom learning, but they were also able to learn what it takes to create an app, something they wouldn’t normally be exposed to through their Chemistry coursework.

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Summer Research Opportunities

If you are looking for even more applied learning experience, each summer the School of the Sciences offers one-on-one research opportunities with our dynamic faculty members. Past projects have included new anti-cancer medications, reducing air pollution, forest habitats, and identifying fall injury risks.

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Specialized Elective Courses

Tailor electives according to your interests and career pathway.

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Designated Chemistry Labs and Research Centers

This includes a chemistry research lab, two organic chemistry labs, and a chemistry instrumentation lab.
Tour our Laboratories

20

Students per Lab

Small class sizes create focused faculty-student interactions for our labs.

100%

of Students Complete a Senior Research or Internship Experience

Study what you are interested in! Research and internship experiences can be tailored to your specific career interests.

Stevenson Chemistry

Career Connections

Internship Placements

  • Fuchs North America
  • Fredrick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
  • Office of Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland
  • Baltimore County Police Department Forensics Division

Top Employers

  • WR Grace & Co.
  • Pompeian Olive Oil
  • Maryland State Police Forensic Sciences Division
  • Proctor and Gamble
  • McCormick & Company

Graduate Opportunities

  • University of Maryland School of Medicine
  • University of Maryland School of Pharmacy
  • Shenandoah University School of Pharmacy
  • University of Maryland College Park, Graduate School in Chemistry
  • University of Delaware, Graduate School in Chemistry

Career Pathways

  • Chemist
  • Materials Research/Production
  • Forensic Science
  • Food Scientist
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Physician

Meet Our Students & Alumni

Fostering a Love of Science

Tamar Singman

Chemistry Major

Tamar flourished with the tight-knit community within the Chemistry program in Stevenson’s Beverly K. Fine School of the Sciences. An active American Chemical Society Club member, Tamar served as the club’s president during her sophomore year.  

Study Chemistry at Stevenson

Courses

The courses in the preview below are required for completion of the bachelor’s degree in Chemistry. Students must complete all remaining major requirements in addition to the Stevenson Educational Experience (SEE) courses.

Course Preview

BIOCH 327Biochemistry3 credits
CHEM 210Organic Chemistry 3 credits
CHEM 310Analytical Chemistry 3 credits
CHEM 430Physical Chemistry 3 credits
CHEM 435Special Topics in Chemistry3 credits
PHYS 210General Physics I 4 credits

Academic Catalog

Explore our academic catalog for a full listing of courses, course descriptions, and suggested course sequence for Stevenson’s Chemistry program.

First Year Seminar1 credit
Principles of General Biology3 credits
or
General Biology I: Cell Biology and Genetics3 credits
General Biology I Laboratory: Cell Biology and Genetics1 credit
Biochemistry3 credits
Integrative Laboratory I2 credits
General Chemistry I with Problem Solving3 credits
or
General Chemistry I3 credits
General Chemistry I Laboratory1 credit
General Chemistry II3 credits
General Chemistry II Laboratory1 credit
Organic Chemistry I3 credits
Organic Chemistry I Laboratory1 credit
Organic Chemistry II3 credits
Organic Chemistry II Laboratory1 credit
Digital Information Literacy for Chemistry1 credit
Inorganic Chemistry3 credits
Analytical Chemistry3 credits
Career Connections in Chemistry1 credit
Integrative Laboratory II2 credits
Capstone Internship3 credits
or
Capstone Internship6 credits
Capstone Seminar3 credits
Calculus I4 credits
Calculus II4 credits
General Physics I with Calculus4 credits
General Physics II with Calculus4 credits
Writing in the Sciences3 credits

Minors

Minors in Chemistry

The minor in chemistry requires successful completion of a minimum of six courses and 18 credits with a CHEM prefix. For chemistry courses with a separate lab co-requisite, both the lab and lecture for the course must be taken; however, the lab does not count as a separate course toward the minor. Please see the chair of the Department of Chemistry for more information. General guidelines regarding minors may be found in the minors section of the catalog.

Minors at Stevenson

Add a Professional Minor

Open yourself up to additional career paths with one of our professional minors. Each minor is designed to pair with students’ majors to give them additional career options, a competitive edge in the job market, and an opportunity to shape their Stevenson experience to meet their specific career goals. 

Find a Professional Minor

Chemistry Department Honors Requirements

Eligible students majoring in chemistry may elect to pursue honors within the Department of Chemistry. The intention to pursue Chemistry Department Honors must be declared before the start of their last semester before graduation. To declare the intent to pursue department honors, a student must have earned a science/math GPA of 3.50 or higher and a plan to finish the honors requirements outlined below.

Students graduating with Chemistry Department honors will have this distinction noted on their official university transcript. In order to graduate with department honors, the following requirements must be met:

  • Completion of one research experience.
  • Completion of a second research experience or a 300-400 level CHEM or BIOCH elective that is not being used to fulfill a degree requirement in the major.
  • An oral presentation of the research experience to the department.
  • A science/math GPA of 3.5 or higher at graduation.

BA Option

Students also have the option of completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chemistry. The student must fulfill all SEE requirements, program requirements, and complete two semesters of a foreign language from the point of placement or completion of 202 level.

Bachelor’s to Master’s Option

BS/MS options are available for students majoring in Chemistry who wish to combine their bachelor’s coursework while working toward a ¶ºÄÌÊÓƵ Master’s Degree in one of the following:

Explore more Bachelor’s to Master’s Options

Articulation Agreement

University of Maryland School of Pharmacy

The Department of Chemistry has an articulation agreement with the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. This is for a dual-degree undergraduate-professional program (3+4) leading to a bachelor’s in Chemistry from ¶ºÄÌÊÓƵ and a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of MD School of Pharmacy. Under the conditions of this agreement, students attend Stevenson for three years taking courses specified by the articulation agreement. Then, if they are accepted into the pharmacy program at the University of Maryland, several of the courses in their first year at the School of Pharmacy will substitute for Stevenson courses. This will allow the students in this program to get a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Stevenson when they complete their first year at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. Please see the chair of the Department of Chemistry for more information.

Preparation

Erika Harden ’14 M’15 took advantage of Stevenson’s 4+1 program to earn both her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and Master’s Degree in Forensic Science in only five years, which helped her secure a much sought after job in Crime Scene Investigation with the Baltimore City Police.

Chemistry News

Amber (Woodruff) Wilson, a chemistry alumna (BS’10/MS’11) has been featured in the American Chemical Society (ACS) Younger Chemists Committee (YCC) Blog. Amber is employed by Green Analytics, LLC, a which performs “testing for state compliance, research and development, gender determination, product development, environmental monitoring, and packaging integrity” in the regulated cannabis marketplace. Amber has been […]

The S3RP students are on another field trip! This trip was to visit two Biomedical Engineering Labs at George Mason University, with a side trip to Great Falls, an area where the Potomac River flows rapidly over steep rocks through the Mather Gorge. Dr. Tiphanie Raffegeau and Dr. Quentin Sanders gave everyone a tour of […]

The summer research students visited the Observatory at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County this week where they were able to climb to the top, experience a telescope demonstration, and hear a current research talk about the observatory from undergraduate students like themselves. The UMBC Observatory Group is built of faculty, staff, and interested students […]

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