Academia

Organic Chemistry

Course Description:

This course is designed for student that will pursue a career as a chemist as a researcher, in education, in industry or as administrators. The course included:

• Concepts of bond formation and atomic orbitals.
• Formation of organic compounds: alkane, alkene, alkyne, alcohols among others.
•  Structure base physical properties determination.
• Structure isomerism.
• Reaction, energy profile and mechanism of organic compounds.
• Relative species stability; free radicals, carbocation and carbanion.
• Conjugate systems and aromaticity.
• Study of the products and mechanism of electrophilic aromatic substitutions reactions.
• Structure, nomenclature, mechanism and reactions of carbonyl compounds.
• Multi-step synthesis.
• Spectroscopic analysis of IRN UV, MS, proton and carbon NMR.
• Structure elucidation of organic compounds integrating the spectroscopic information obtain.

From Fire to Plasma: A journey through the History of Chemistry

Course Description:

This course focus on the study of the development and the human process of what today we call chemistry. We will be concerned with the human role in the development of chemistry and its consequences. With the incorporation of this course the educators will be able to provide the students with a new viewpoint, tools, and resources that will allow the student to see chemistry as an interconnected science and understand the relevance of the discipline not just to the academia but to our daily life and the human experience that connect us all to each other and to those who came before us. The course expectations are to provide the students with a macro view of the social context in which the knowledge already acquired during the chemistry courses develops, and to assess the progress of general intellectual skills in the students. The course also include:

• Laboratory demonstrations that will allow the students to experience first handedly how chemistry has been done
  throughout history.
• Different concept that played a major role in the epoch and which still is an issue today.
• Forums in which the students will analyze episodes of the history of chemistry using critical thinking and the
  material learned in the course.

Green Chemistry

Course Description:

The students will have the opportunity to learn about what chemist are doing in the present time to prevent the harm on the environment and will be introduced to this research area. The course expectations are to apply the knowledge already acquired during the introductory courses and to assess in the students the development of general intellectual skills (e.g., communication, reasoning/analysis, social and team-work, literacy) as well as discipline-specific essential skills (develop environmentally conscious scientists, experience in laboratory projects) related to Green Chemistry. This course includes:

• The study of theoretical concepts related to Green Chemistry.
• Laboratory experiences/demonstrations that help to understand the theoretical concepts.
• Several units in which Green Chemistry will be applied to the different areas of science, mostly the ones concerning to Chemistry.
• Forums  in which the students will analyze current literature related to Green Chemistry using critical thinking and the material learned in the course.

Pre-MARC Mentor

Description:

This course is designed as a mentorship program for the freshmen general chemistry course. The General Chemistry course requires different levels of learning that the majority of the students perceive as challenges during their enrollment.  Student organization is crucial, and to achieve the main goal of the course, different skills must be acquired during the process. the “Selected Topics in Chemistry” course (Chem-5995) was developed to provide a setting where student’s learning is stimulated and executed.  Adjustment to the environmental factors that can influence in their career is provided, rather than considering only intellectual abilities.  There are several activities, where they can incorporate the knowledge acquired and apply it to their scientific journey.  The intimate setting provided, overcome limitations in the regular classroom, for it offers reinforcement, comprehension, and passion for their success.  Graduate students serve as mentors of this program, where a give-and-take relationship is developed during the year, being beneficial for both the mentor and mentees.  This course is offered to freshmen students in the College of Natural Sciences, taking the General Chemistry course for the first time, and it aims to improve their transition to the university, making the adaptation process more pleasant, facilitating the acquisition of science skills for their improvement on the course and exposing them to experiences that will contribute throughout their entire professional career.

Organic Synthesis

Course Description:

The course is designed for advance undergraduate student that will pursue a career as a chemist, as a researcher, in education or industry. It provides a deeper understanding of the reactivity and properties of organic compounds and reaction pathways. The course included:

• Practical synthetic methods for the preparation of complex organic compounds.
• Detailed reaction mechanisms.
• Stereoselective synthesis.
• Organometallic chemistry and organometallic catalysts in the synthesis of organic compounds.