Chemistry plays a central role in the most exciting and critical areas of modern scientific
exploration. Wilkes biochemistry and chemistry majors receive a solid foundation in chemical theories and laboratory techniques, preparing
them for a range of career opportunities in chemical or pharmaceutical industries,
government laboratories and academia.
Our Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has well-equipped laboratory facilities
and exceptional chemical instrumentation. The use of chemical instrumentation is integrated
into the curriculum beginning in your first year. The department possesses a wide
range of modern spectroscopic and separations instruments, thermal analysis facilities,
and routine equipment for synthesis and analysis.
Opportunities
Within our department, you will find ample opportunity to participate in research
at Wilkes. Majors are required to complete a capstone senior research project. However,
students can begin their involvement in an original research project as early as their
first year. Students can participate as volunteers, paid technicians, interns, or
through enrollment in independent studies.
Independent Study
Independent study allows students to collaborate in novel projects with many related
disciplines, such as biology, pharmacy, computer science, and others. A wide range
of research topics is currently being explored within the department. Ongoing and
planned projects include organic synthesis, biochemical investigations (enzymology
and pharmaceutical applications), materials science (amorphous alloy production and
characterization), analytical chemistry, and computational chemistry.
Off-Campus Opportunities
In addition to the on-campus opportunities offered by the faculty, the chemistry department
also encourages student participation in a variety of off-campus activities such as
summer research internships or a semester-abroad. Recently, students spent their summers
at Sanofi and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Graduate School & Employment
The department maintains an outstanding record of placement in graduate and medical
programs across the country. Recent graduates have been awarded fellowships and scholarships
for doctoral work at Columbia, MIT, Vanderbilt and others. Other majors have taken
research positions in a variety of industrial and government laboratories.
of department majors complete a senior research project.
400
megahertz nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer – the largest in the region.
72,000
square feet for experiential learning in the Cohen Science Center.
The highlight of my time at Wilkes has been all the research and laboratory experience
I have gained. I have had the wonderful opportunity of working on multiple research
projects and running various instruments that I would never get to use as an undergraduate
at another institution.
Nicholas Fitzpatrick ’19, Chemistry major
Chemical Instruments & Stockroom
The Department maintains a large inventory of lab equipment and routinely used chemical
items.
Equipment includes:
High Pressure Liquid Chromatography
FT-NMR Spectroscopy
FT-IR and UV-VIS Spectroscopy
Fluorescence Spectroscopy
Thermogravimetic Analysis
Differential Scanning Calorimetry
Stopped-Flow Apparatus
Chemical Library
The department houses computer equipment for online to the ACS Archives and many other
scientific online journals. Additional library resources are available at Wilkes University's
Farley Library.
The Catherine H. Bone lecture in chemistry is hosted by the Department of Chemistry.
It is made possible by the endowments left by Catherine H. Bone, who taught chemistry
at Wilkes from 1946-1965.
