Senior Comprehensive Requirement in Chemistry:
Attendance at all department seminars is required of all senior majors as partial fulfillment of the senior comprehensive requirement. Seminars begin with refreshments at 3:15 p.m. on Friday afternoons in Science Center, Kirkpatrick Lecture Hall A011, with the seminar to commence at 3:30 p.m. Attendance will be taken and unexcused absences noted. Should you have a valid conflict on a particular Friday, you are asked to inform Professor Wiscons at least one week in advance. In addition, each senior will present a 15-20 minute seminar: honors thesis students will speak in the fall about their research projects, and students who are not writing a thesis will speak in the spring about a recent journal article of interest.
Each seminar presented by an outside speaker will either be followed or preceded, normally the Friday meeting before or after the speaker’s visit, by a discussion amongst ourselves of the seminar topic. You will be asked to read a journal article or two relating to the speaker's recent work early in the week of the discussion. You are expected to prepare for the discussion by completing the reading, and thinking about the material during the week. One chemistry faculty member, who will choose the readings, will also participate in each discussion. These discussions will be held in Science Center, Kirkpatrick Lecture Hall A011 unless otherwise indicated.
Chemistry majors have the opportunity (and responsibility) for hosting each seminar speaker at lunch during their visit to campus. The arrangements for the meal will be made by the department office. Our seminar speakers especially enjoy meeting with students, and we hope that soon each major (not just seniors) will have the opportunity to attend a number of these lunches.
One of our goals for the seminar program is for our majors to gain experience being a scientist in a community of scientists. We also hope to expose you to fields, careers, and disciplines within chemistry that are either new to the department or not well represented here. We will try to find scientists who will give good talks about interesting science. If there is a particular scientist whom you would like to invite, or a particular type of chemist you would like to hear, please let us know. We often have some open slots in the spring semester and will try to accommodate your request. It is the students, faculty, and the audience at the seminar that will make an impression on our speakers and will be what they take back with them as an impression of Amherst College. We'd like that to be a positive one.