Program Overview

Chemistry & Biochemistry Scholars Program

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Scholars Program (CBSP) is a unique initiative that allows undergraduate students to engage in research from their first year. This program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive education in chemistry and biochemistry, with a strong focus on research and hands-on experience.

Program Overview

The CBSP is a merit-based program that provides students with special academic advising, early research opportunities, and a scholarship. Students selected for the program will receive a CBSP scholarship, which ranges from $10,000 to $25,000 and is renewable for four years.

Admission Criteria

Applicants indicating chemistry or biochemistry as their intended area of study will automatically be considered for the program. Selection is based on academic performance in high school, leadership, extracurricular involvement, and community service.

Academic Scholarship

Each CBSP participant will receive a CBSP scholarship, which ranges from $10,000 to $25,000 and is renewable for four years. Families may be eligible for additional aid based on financial need.

Research Opportunities

CBSP students will have the opportunity to work in faculty-directed research labs from their first year. They will be assisting researchers in solving real-world problems, such as creating new molecules for potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease or discovering the mechanisms by which pathogens harvest essential minerals from their hosts.

Facilities and Equipment

All CBSP research is conducted on campus, with easy access to state-of-the-art laboratories and equipment, including:

• Fluorescence lifetime spectrometer
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometers
• Capillary Electrophoresis
• High-field NMR spectrometer
• High pressure liquid chromatography
• DNA Thermocyclers (PCR)
• UV/Visible Spectrophotometers
• Gas chromatographs

Colloquia and Lectures

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department sponsors many lectures on timely chemistry topics given by reputable professionals and researchers. CBSP students will have the opportunity to meet with these speakers to discuss issues and research opportunities. Recent colloquia have included:

• "Cleaning Up: Uptake of Xenobiotics as the First Step in Biodegradation"
• "Molecules and Molecular Mimetics"
• "A Chemist's Approach to High-Aspect Ratio Nanowires"
• "Superoxide Dismutase and ALS: How do mutations alter the folding energy surface?"
• "Design, Synthesis and Properties of Low-Dimensional Antiferromagnets"
• Forensic Science Colloquium "Crime Scene Photography"
• "System Structure-Function Analysis. An Approach for Linking Structure and Effects of Medicine"