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The following feature article appeared in the campus publication Mosaic in February, 1997. Although some of the courses, students, and faculty members referenced in the story may have changed in the meantime, it still provides a full and accurate picture of the Chemistry Department. For the most current course information and faculty listing, we encourage you to visit the department's homepage.
Chemistry
Learning as a conversation
Imagine it's the first day of classes, second semester, and you've just walked into the Intro to Chem II classroom. Without so much as mentioning the names of Boyle, Charles, or Avogadro -- let alone their signal scientific discoveries -- the professor instructs you to devise a theory to account for something about the properties of gases that strikes you as counterintuitive. You are told that the same volume of different gases contains the same number of molecules, but you know, having aced Chem I, that the molecules of different gases differ in size and weight. How can this be? Ushering you off to a lab equipped with all the necessary tools and computer support, your professor asks you to account for this puzzling property of gases.
Learning by observation and conversation
This challenging approach to teaching -- which effectively asks students to discover the basic laws of chemistry rather than internalize or memorize textbook presentations -- is a hallmark of chemistry at Trinity. "We're interested in teaching our students that science proceeds by observation," explains Associate Professor Richard V. Prigodich, the department chair. "Rather than taking the more typical teaching approach -- one which Ôhands down' rules and principles before any observation takes place -- we put students in the lab first, have them perform experiments, record their observations, and then try to devise the principles that account for those observations. This Ôhands-on' approach is much closer to how science is really performed."
"Hands-on" instead of "hands down," according to Henry A. DePhillips, Jr., Vernon K. Krieble Professor of Chemistry, establishes both teacher and students as students, "and this creates a learning environment for everyone." "Learning thus becomes a kind of conversation among scientists," says Professor of Chemistry David E. Henderson. "Students are doing real science, and we are responding as scientific peers and mentors. It's a lot of fun, but it's also tough work."
What makes this approach work so well is the close, one-on-one working relationships with the department's faculty members. "The professors are great!" says Richard M. Dallmeyer '97. "They're very open and accessible. And the classes are small, so each student gets lots of attention." His comments are echoed by biochemistry major Jennifer M. Milham-Becker '99, who adds, "the professors get us involved in doing research very early in the program." By their senior year students are able to work nearly as peers in collaborative research with the faculty.
According to Assistant Professor of Chemistry Shelby Anderson, while it's important for students to learn as much as they can about chemistry, "my primary goal is not to have them excel at one or two topics but rather to develop the ability to look at a problem, to think about it critically, and to come up with options that they can then evaluate in a well-informed way."
Superior instrumentation and state-of-the-art facilities
Trinity's superior instrumentation helps students acquire and hone this more inquisitive mode. "After we receive the necessary training," Joseph P. DeAngelis '97 says, "our professors are very comfortable with letting students work alone with the instruments, and this gives us experiences that I think are unparalleled."
"Our instrumentation is at least as good as that of any other liberal arts college's chemistry department in the country," claims Prigodich, citing the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, mass spectrometer, scanning electron microscope, and other state-of-the-art instruments. "Our graduates always tell us that the scientists with whom they now interact are very impressed with our students' experiences with such advanced technology as undergraduates."
Within the classroom, students have the opportunity to learn from the department's innovative electronic learning facilities. "An enormous amount of chemistry research is moving from the lab to the computer," Henderson explains. "So it's important to involve students with computer tools." Prigodich adds, "our software provides students with visual images of chemical properties, and this enables us to match different learning styles."
Internship and community service "clients"
The department's connections with active internship and community service programs give students learning experiences in real-world applications of chemistry. The department has long-established internship relations with area governmental agencies, medical centers, research institutions, and industrial labs for which students can perform research.
This opportunity to learn the dynamics of "doing research for a client is an important component of the program," according to Henderson, "because if students go into industry or consulting, someone will be giving them projects to work on, and students will need to conduct the experiment, analyze the results, and effectively communicate their findings -- all skills that form part of our program." This variety of experiences prepares students well for when they leave Trinity for medical, law, or graduate school, or to work in industry, health professions, environmental protection, or business.
The department also offers an unusual opportunity to explore the connections between science and art. For a number of years Professor DePhillips has collaborated with Hartford's Wadsworth Atheneum in chemically analyzing the Atheneum's holdings, and he regularly engages students in research that aids the museum in its efforts to conserve important artworks or determine a painting's authenticity or a painter's working procedures.
Picking up on their mentors' collegial approach, students operate the Trinity Chemistry Society, which organizes research symposiums, instigates outreach programs bringing Connecticut high school students to the College to get a taste of college-level chemistry, and performs community fund-raising for institutions like Hartford Hospital and the Connecticut Children's Medical Center, according to Shrilekha B. Bathey '97, the Society's secretary.
Interdisciplinary connections
Because chemistry is fundamentally an interdisciplinary science, the department also offers a biochemistry major and is involved in the College's multidisciplinary neuroscience program. The department supports these connections and its own central mission through a wide array of research activities. Prigodich has recently been focusing on arthritis research. DePhillips has applied his research to art restoration and archival conservation. The remarkable properties of capsaicin in chili peppers has been the subject of much of Henderson's recent investigations. Ralph O. Moyer, Scovill Professor of Chemistry, concentrates his research on inorganic chemistry and metal compounds. Associate Professor William H. Church, affiliated with the neuroscience program, conducts research on Parkinson's disease. Anderson currently focuses on enzymes and fatty acids. Assistant Professor Thomas M. Mitzel conducts research on developing environmentally safe chemistry for industry and research. And Assistant Professor Cesar Zambrano is investigating the chemical properties of metal molecular structures.
For all this diversity of interest, members of the department are united by mutual support for each other's research and by an enduring commitment to teaching. Looking ahead, Prigodich predicts that although chemistry and the tools for research will continue to develop at a remarkable pace, the department will remain characterized by what it does best: "constant pedagogic innovation as we develop new and more effective ways to teach students."
-- Mark Warren McLaughlin