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Chemistry
Undergraduate - Statement of Goals
Welcome to
the Department of Chemistry!
You
come to the Chemistry program at Michigan at
an auspicious and exciting time. Most of our
classes and labs are in the modern and pleasant
new Chemistry facility. The faculty have very
recently designed a new and modern curriculum
that emphasizes "how chemists think".
It has received wide attention outside this University.
In the last decade we have appointed sixteen
new faculty who bring freshness and youthful
energy to the program. It is an especially stimulating
time to be a chemistry concentrator.
But why study
Chemistry? You are considering for your concentration a discipline
that is challenging and that stretches the imagination. At the same
time Chemistry remains practical and down to earth. Chemists analyze,
synthesize, quantitate and design materials. We relish creating
models and theories that can rationalize what happens in the laboratory.
We enjoy discussing our experiments and ideas with each other as
well as with physicists, biologists, computer scientists and with
experts in electronics and materials science. Each day in our experiments
we use sophisticated instrumentation such as lasers and magnetic
resonance spectrometers (called magnetic imaging over in the hospital).
In other words, we interface with a myriad of other disciplines
and fields.
The study of
chemistry prepares individuals for the obvious real-life jobs in
chemical industry, education and related fields. More fundamentally
it develops the ability to solve problems and to think critically.
These latter skills will be more valuable to you than any specific
facts, theories and techniques you will master in your chemistry
classes. Put simply, the study of chemistry provides a vehicle for
obtaining an education for life in the broadest sense.
The
department is committed to providing you with
a first class education. You are invited to accept
the challenge we offer to grow and mature under
our guidance. Let me present you with another
more specific, short term challenge. Set a goal
to "get to know" one or two people
in this department over the next year. This will
take some initiative on your part since establishing
a relationship requires effort on both sides.
One such person might be a professor whom you
regularly visit during office hours or in whose
laboratory you decide to start research. Another
might be a graduate student teaching assistant
who tutors you in a class or lab. Another such
person could be the advisor assigned to monitor
your chemistry and academic program. We extend
this offer of person-to-person chemistry to you
and advise that it could be a catalyst for some
interesting transformations.
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