Chemistry
What if you could map molecular structures using Gaussian software, a staple in industrial and academic labs...
Chemistry is the study
of matter and its
infinite transformations
WHAT ISN’T CHEMISTRY?
Like your smart phone? Chemists helped make it possible. In fact, chemists are working right now on creating even longer lasting power sources.
Wondering if humans will live longer in the future? Chemists are at the heart of understanding what happens inside cells as they age.
Chemists seek to understand everything in the world at the level of atoms and molecules, and to examine the composition of substances, their properties and reactions.
Chemistry at Drew is vital, in part, because of its New Jersey location—right in the middle of a nationally important scientific and technical region—through site visits, internships and networking with the many alumni who work locally.
In Drew’s RISE program, chemistry majors also have the rare opportunity to conduct research alongside top veteran scientists from industry, the only program of its kind in the nation.
Students use methanol to extract molecules from bills, then use sophisticated equipment to tease out elements present in the sample. A full 90 percent of the money tested, as it happens, carried trace elements of cocaine. It’s all part of rigorous training in this important field.
Careers Made easy
good chemistry
We are devoted to helping students become complete scientists. Our goal is to graduate accomplished researchers, but also develop students’ interpersonal, leadership, writing and presentation skills, all highly sought in chemistry.
Drew chemistry majors leave knowing how to handle instrumentation they’ll use the first day on the job, such as our time-of-flight mass spectrometer, and our inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. (And you’re not fighting a bunch of grad students to get time on the machines.)
Graduates take their degrees in a variety of directions. They are accepted to prestigious graduate schools, work for leading pharmaceutical companies and teach at the university and secondary levels.
Full-Impact Students
Alae Kawam
The entire chemistry faculty knows me by name; they have established personal connections with me and know me as a person, not just a chemistry student. Whenever I have a bad day, I knock on my adviser’s office door and complain freely. He’s a good listener!
Full-Impact Students
David Sapiro
I’m learning about the bonds in metals from my lab work synthesizing materials in order to predict their properties. This will help me as a graduate student in materials science and metallurgy. It also helps me better understand my hobby, blacksmithing.
Full-Impact Students
Timothy Barnum
Honorable mention, Goldwater Scholarship
I’m inspired to take on new challenges: This summer, I am doing research in a theoretical chemistry lab at Duke University. It would be an understatement to say that my experience as a chemistry major would not be the same anywhere else.
Passionate Faculty
Ryan Hinrichs
Associate professor
My current work is in expanding the scientific understanding of the atmosphere—specifically the tiny particles that float in the air, like sea salt, smoke and windblown minerals, and how trace pollutants might chemically change these particles and affect cloud formation and the climate.
Ph.D., Cornell University
Passionate Faculty
Adam Cassano
Associate professor
I’m investigating phosphodiester cleavage, the bonds that hold our DNA and RNA together. Because they are important in cellular signaling, they are tied to numerous diseases. I find diving into a topic like this, and trying to learn as much as possible, thoroughly enjoyable. I think that’s a big reason why I enjoy my job so much.
Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University
Passionate Faculty
Juliette Lantz
Professor & chair
I’m directing a national consortium that’s creating a guided-inquiry analytical chemistry curriculum. I also take great satisfaction in being a part of the tight-knit community of learners (faculty and students!) at Drew.
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin–Madison
Passionate Faculty
Alan Rosan
Professor
I once had a student tell me they finally got organic chemistry looking out over the San Francisco Bay Bridge one foggy afternoon when the mist cleared and the dance of electrons came clear. It’s an apt image for me; I’m working on infusing the philosophy and practice of green chemistry into our courses.
Ph.D., Brandeis University
Passionate Faculty
Mary-Ann Pearsall
Professor
My current research focuses on cluster chemistry, specifically the ability of metals to bond to one another.
Ph.D., Cambridge University
Passionate Faculty
Molly W. Crowther
Assistant professor
Whether chemistry ends up being a frustrating experience or an invigorating one depends on how you approach it. I encourage students to collaborate outside the classroom—bouncing ideas and explanations off friends is a powerful way to learn. I’m a Drew alumna. So is my husband—and he was a chemistry major too.
Ph.D., Syracuse University
Passionate Faculty
Sandra Keyser
Assistant professor
I teach biochemistry and organic chemistry laboratories, as well as lecture in organic and general chemistry.
Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh University
Successful Alumni
- Senior scientist
Ortho Diagnostics/Johnson & Johnson - Vice president, business development
Worldwide Clinical Trials, Inc. - Ph.D. candidate
Princeton University
Summers spent waiting tables
My Favorite Course
“One of the most interesting concepts I learned was entropy, or disorder of the universe. The universe is becoming more disordered the same way molecules become more disordered. It’s interesting to perceive the sophistication of the universe, despite the disorder.”
Alae Kawam on General Chemistry 2