Chemistry
History
The Department of Chemistry was reestablished as an independent
department
in
1977.
Previously,
Spelman
students
who
majored
in
chemistry
completed
most
of
their
chemistry
courses
through cooperative arrangements with Morehouse College.
Due to
the
rapid increase of Spelman students majoring
in
the
natural sciences during the seventies, Spelman's chemistry
department
began
offering the first two years of
the
chemistry curriculum
on
campus in 1977, and upper division courses were either
completed
at Morehouse College or at the other colleges
in
the
Atlanta University Center consortium. Since that time, the
number
of
biochemistry,
chemistry, and dual-degree chemical engineering majors
has
increased
from
24 in 1977 to 120 in
1993,
representing an increase from 1.9 percent to over 6 percent
of the college enrollment.
As of the 1990-91 academic year, Spelman students were
able to complete all of the basic chemistry area courses
and many of the chemistry electives on campus. Spelman enrolls
more chemistry majors than many comparable liberal arts colleges
and
major research universities throughout the United States.
Chemistry Facilities, Equipment and Resources
The chemistry department has a wide range of instrumentation
available for teaching and research purposes:
Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometer
High Performance Liquid Chromatographs (3)
Gas Chromatographs (2)
EG&G Dropping Mercury Electrode for Polarography
SPEX Picosecond Fluorescence Spectrometer
Mercury 200MHz NMR Spectrometer
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometers (3)
Nicolet Fourier Transform Raman Spectrometer
DNA synthesizer
Ultracentrifuge
UV-Visible Spectrometers (10)
Burleigh Scanning Tunneling Microscope
SPEX High resolution CCD Raman Spectrometer
Laser Laboratory Facility (including OPO, ND:YAG, tunable dye, AR ion, CO2,
HeNe, and diode lasers).
More Chemistry Department Information:
Courses with Internet
Materials
