Training Tomorrow’s Scientists: Embedding Professional Skills in the Physical Chemistry Curriculum with a Guided Grant and Laboratory Project

Abstract

A successful scientific career requires competency in not only content knowledge but also professional skills, such as written and oral communication, decision making, problem solving, and planning, organizing, and prioritizing work. These professional skills are prioritized in the 2016 NACE Job Outlook report as the top 10 attributes employers look for in job candidates. To help ensure our graduates are competitive job candidates, we developed a Guided Grant and Laboratory Project (G 2 LP) in the physical chemistry curriculum. This yearlong project guides students through the research process in chemistry, from project identification through the dissemination of results. The G 2 LP requires students to identify a physical chemistry experiment of their choice from the Journal of Chemical Education, request funding for their project through an NSF-style grant proposal, collect and analyze data, and disseminate their results. In this activity, we describe the implementation of the G 2 LP at two institutions and assessment through quantitative and qualitative student feedback. The flexibility of this project allows instructors to modify the G 2 LP to their institutional needs with the potential to expand beyond physical chemistry.

Phenotypic Hit Discovery Oriented Workshop for Undergraduates: Integrating Cutting-Edge Knowledge and Discovery-Based Laboratory Experiences

“…9 Furthermore, a successful 21st century scientific career requires competency not only in one's discipline but also in professional skills, such as navigating literature, cooperative working, problem-solving, data analysis, scientific writing, and oral presentation. 10 The laboratory is an ideal medium to teach knowledge along with professional skills. Traditionally, medicinal-chemistry laboratories are often based on classical "cookbook" experiments, where students follow predetermined steps to achieve an expected outcome.…”

“…Moreover, due to resource challenges (research equipment, supplies, lab space, faculty time, and funding, etc. ), some CUREs only offer these experiences as optional courses or summer opportunity . Thus, a systematic and long-term paradigm is lacking in providing sufficient time for iteration and failure or opportunities for collaboration between and within student groups for revising and repeating individual experiments (particularly when these inevitably fail).…”

“…This can leave undergraduate students with deficient thinking on future modern medicinal chemistry and restricted in job opportunities . Furthermore, a successful 21st century scientific career requires competency not only in one’s discipline but also in professional skills, such as navigating literature, cooperative working, problem-solving, data analysis, scientific writing, and oral presentation . The laboratory is an ideal medium to teach knowledge along with professional skills.…”

Implementation of the Experimental Design Outcome in the Chemical Engineering Degree Program at Technical University of Madrid (GIQ-ETSII-UPM)

“…Although the main goal of this paper is the outcome “Research Skills”, classified as systemic in the Tuning Project, it is also intended to expose the overall design strategy of the entire curriculum in terms of experimental subjects. Different authors have studied the use of inquiry-based experiments in the teaching of various subjects, such as general chemistry, ,, biochemistry, physical chemistry, − environmental and analytical chemistry, and organic chemistry . However, this paper analyzes the use of this philosophy throughout a degree’s curriculum, involving and interconnecting all experimental subjects of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.…”