HONORS IN CHEMISTRY

Bowling Green State University

An undergraduate majoring in chemistry can graduate with departmental honors by meeting the following requirements.

A student may also graduate with University honors through the University Honors program.

In some circumstances, a student may qualify for both designations. In such cases the same thesis may be used to satisfy both requirements, provided that the rules are met in each case.

I. Requirements

• A. Grade Point Requirements:
  • 1. The student must have an minimal GPA of 3.50 Overall and a 3.50 in all chemistry courses taken at Bowling Green.
  • 2. All chemistry courses must have been taken for letter grades. A maximum of 20 hours of transfer credit in chemistry may be applied towards meeting the graduation requirements.
  • 3. A maximum of 6 SH of credit in Chem 413 can be used in figuring the chemistry GPA.
• B. Specific Course Requirements--
  • 1.The student must complete Chem 405 , 406, 407, 408, and Chem 454. (Physical Chemistry, Integrated Analytical/Physical Laboratory, and Instrumental Methods of Analysis.)
  • 2.The student must complete two of the courses Chem 445, Chem 463 and Chem 442. (Chem 466 may be substituted for Chem 442.) (Biochemistry, Inorganic, and Reaction Mechanisms or Spectroscopy)
• C. Honors Courses--
  • The university requires the student to complete two honors courses (6 SH) above the 100 level. (This may be satisfied by designated chemistry courses.) The designated honors courses in chemistry are Chem 135, 138-9, 454, 463, 445, 442, 446, and 413.
  • D. Course Grades--
  • The department requires grades of A or B in all 400 level courses with honors designations.

• The student is required to conduct a significant research project, to write a formal thesis, and to present the results.
• The research is usually conducted as Chem 413 and the student is normally expected to complete a minimum of two semesters work. The chair of the department honors committee can waive this requirement to accept work conducted under other auspices (such as summer research participation or research at another institution.)
• The thesis should meet the style requirements of professional journals in chemistry.
• (The A.C.S. Style Guide for Authors is recommended.) The public presentation will normally be met by participation in a poster session in the spring semester. (Notice that these are basically the requirements for a 413 final report but the honors thesis is more closely reviewed.)
• To be designated as an honors thesis, the thesis must be reviewed and approved by a thesis committee. This committee shall consist of the student's principal research advisor and one or two other faculty members selected jointly by the student and the research advisor.

• The student must submit a formal application for graduation with departmental honors; this is filed at the University Honor's Program office. The deadline is the second week of the semester in which the student will graduate. This form requires the signature of the thesis committee and an abstract of the research plan. The department undergraduate advisor signs for the department.
• The thesis should be submitted to the honors program four weeks before the end of the semester. An additional week should be allowed for review by the thesis committee. This may force the official thesis to be completed before the experimental work is complete; the department copy (413 report) will often include additional information. (The student is advised to check with the honors program since the thesis deadline is often very flexible.)

Iv. ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

The department honors committee shall consist of all of the members of the chemistry department's Undergraduate Committee; the department's undergraduate advisor shall serve as chair of the honors committee. Changes to the department's requirements for graduation with departmental honors shall be made by the Undergraduate Committee and are subject to review by the faculty.

The department honors committee, upon recommendation of its chair, may waive specific requirements in exceptional cases.