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Research

Chemistry students have opportunities to engage in research activities through out their academic career at Purchase through Independent Studies and Senior Project. Research, in most cases, is carried out under the guidance of a faculty member, although off-campus projects are also possible. The capstone of a students career at Purchase is the Senior Project, an 8-credit, 2-semester research endeavor. Students began their preparation for their senior thesis work during their Junior year. The Junior Seminar course helps prepare students for creative inquiry and the preparation and the writing of the Senior Project Proposal. During their senior year, students work in the laboratory of one of the faculty and carry out independent, original research. Upon completion of the work, the student submits the results in the form of a thesis as well as reports the findings in the ACS Undergraduate Research Symposium. In many cases, the results go on to be published in refereed scientific journals with the student and the faculty mentor as co-authors.

MERCK/AAAS Undergraduate Science Research
Purchase college is one of the recipients of the MERCK/AAAS grants award for undergraduate research in the interface of biology and chemistry for the period 2000-2002. The Chemistry, Biology and Environmental Science programs where invited to apply for this grant as a result of the high quality of undergraduate research in the sciences at Purchase. The Merck/AAAS award is also restricted to chemistry programs approved by the American Chemical Society (ACS). Most of our senior and junior chemistry majors therefore enjoy the status of Merck scholars and have their senior project costs as well as independent research projects either fully or partly covered by the Merck grant.

NIH Bridges Program
Most of the chemistry faculty are involved with the NIH-Bridges research program. The NIH funded Bridges program enables minorities and economically disadvantaged students from community colleges to advance to 4 year colleges and hence pursue a career in the biomedical sciences. The program requires the students to undertake a fully-funded summer research investigation at Purchase College prior to their admission the subsequent Fall. Some of the Bridges students use their summer program in chemistry as a stepping stone for their advanced career in the biomedical field. For more information, see the NIH/Bridges Website.