Chem 450: Senior Seminar, Spring 2014
Instructor: Dr Vincent Sichula Office: 163 Beauregard
Phone: 985-448-4504 E-mail:
Room: Beauregard Hall 210
Course Meeting: Each Friday, 03:00 pm of the last week of the Month and during Seminars.
The meeting times for seminars will be announced.
Office Hours: Posted on moodle and on the office door
Whenever, l am in the office you are welcome to come in and ask questions.
COURSE DESCRIPTION. CHEM 450. Prerequisite: CHEM 306 and 319. A capstone course in which students prepare and present a seminar on a topic approved by the instructor and take an exit examination assessing their knowledge of chemistry. (40.0599)
PREREQUISITES. CHEM 306, 319. CHEM and CHDM majors are strongly encouraged to take these required courses as soon as they have completed CHEM 222 and 300.
REQUIRED TEXTBOOK: Chemistry Research Articles
REQUIRED SUPPLEMENTS. The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information, 3ed (ACS Press).
COURSE GOAL. The goal of this course is to familiarize students with scientific presentations and with the most important sources of chemical information and help them develop skills required to efficiently find and utilize information. The skills developed in this course should allow students to adapt to the rapidly evolving chemical literature.
STUDENT OUTCOME OBJECTIVES. At the end of this course, students will be
· To give a scientific presentations and write scientific reports
· able to use the chemical literature available in acs.org and other chemical sources
· able to use software tools designed to assist in writing about chemistry
· able to recognize the primary literature by format
· able to construct appropriate bibliographic citations (references) in the correct format
· adept at using Chemical Abstracts, print and electronic (STN) versions, and all its component services, as well as other important sources to solve specific chemical information problems, such as
o finding patent information, journal articles, monographs, reviews by author, by subject, or by chemical substance
o finding physical and chemical properties of a compound
Course Schedule:
Day / Topic / General Information02/12 / Seminar by Dr. James Hougland
at 03:00 pm in room Bea 165/104 / From Syracuse University
02/28 / Class Meeting / Requirements for
Presentation and Scientific Report
03/21 / Seminar by Dr. Daniel Kuroda
at 03:00 pm in room Bea 165/104 / From LSU
03/28 / Class Meeting / Last day to choose the date of presentation
04/04 / Student presentation
04/11 / Student presentation
04/18 / Spring Break
04/25 / Spring Break
05/02 / Student presentation
05/07 / Student presentation / Last day for presentations
05/07 / Last day to submit the scientific report
05/08 / All students should have taken exit exam
Course Requirements:
Visiting Faculty Seminars: Two seminars will be presented by visiting faculties. Students should attend all seminars. Each seminar will be worth 100 points. The student should write a 100 words report summarizing what the seminar was about, and submit the report after one week from the date of the seminar. Send the report in a word document to my email and submit the hardcopy by bringing it to my office. Students are encouraged to ask questions during the seminar and 5 points will be awarded for each question asked during the semester. The questions should be related to the topic of the presentation and it should be logical and science related. Students who will not attend the seminar will not be permitted to submit a report. And this will result in 100 points loss. No seminar report will be accepted after the due date and this will result in loss of points.
Students Seminar:
A student presentation is the main goal of this course. Each student will give a seminar on his/her topic of choice. The presentation will be worth 200 points.
Report: Students will write a scientific report which will be due on 05/07/2014. Select the topic you will need to write a report on. The total point for the report is 150. You can submit the same topic for both the presentation and scientific report.
In order to get full points for the report, students should use chem draw software or other drawing software which you learnt in chem. 319 and bibliographic software such as endnote or reference manager in their scientific report.
NOTE: You cannot submit a report or a presentation of the topic you did for CHEM 319/421.
Exit Exam: All students graduating are required to take an exit exam. In order to get an A in this course, a student should at least have a satisfactory grade in the exit exam.
Attendance: Students are required to attend all classes and seminar. This course has two class meetings. If you miss the class, you will lose 100 points. If you miss the seminar you lose 100 points.
METHODS OF EVALUATION:
ITEM Total Points
Student Seminar Presentation 200
Visiting Faculty Seminars 200
Report: 150
Exit Exam satisfactory or better
Total 550 + exit exam
A straight percentage is used to determine grade.
A = 90% B = 80% C = 65% D = 55%
Attendance: Attendance is required. Students are required to attend all classes and seminar. This course has two class meetings. If you miss the class, you will lose 100 points. If you miss the seminar you lose 100 points.
Make Up: Make up work will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The student must provide a valid, verifiable excuse.
Academic Honesty Policy:
Semester Withdrawals: The last day to withdraw from the class with a ‘W’ is March 28, 2014.
Academic Disabilities Policy: If you have a documented disability that requires assistance, you will need to register with the Office of Disability Services for coordination of your academic accommodations. The Office of Disability Services is located in Peltier Hall, Room 100-A. The Phone Number is (985) 448-4430 (TDD 449-7002).
Academic Grievances: The proper procedure for filing grade appeals or grievances related to academic matters is listed in Section 5 of the Code of Student Conduct and at the following link: http://www.nicholls.edu/documents/student_life/code_of_conduct.pdf.
ASSISTANCE WITH STUDYING AND ASSIGMENTS
·The Tutoring Center at143 Peltier Hall. Call985-448-4100, email:, or visithttp://www.nicholls.edu/academic-enhancement/
·The Writing Center at144 Peltier Hall. Call985-448-4100, email:, or visithttp://www.nicholls.edu/academic-enhancement/
·Online Tutoring through Moodle.Look for the Brainfuse log-in link on the home page,http://moodle2.nicholls.edu/moodle/
Continued Learning following an Extreme Emergency
The following guidelines are meant: to help the business of education continue at Nicholls State University in the aftermath of an extreme emergency situation; to help faculty and students understand their roles in completing education requirements for courses in progress when the emergency began; and to encourage faculty to be imaginative and resourceful in finding ways to continue the education of students and the work of the university.
Faculty responsibilities:
• Faculty members are responsible for their development in the use of the Moodle software.
• Faculty members are responsible for having a plan for continuing their courses using only Moodle and email.
• Faculty members should be allowed to continue their course in whatever way suits the completion of the course best, and encouraged to be creative in the continuation of these courses.
• Any adjustments or compensations made to a student’s progress in special programs with labs, clinical sequences (i.e. Culinary, Nursing, etc.), or the like should be made only in the immediate semester following the emergency.
· Faculty members are responsible for including these guidelines in all syllabi.
Student responsibilities:
• Students are responsible for reading regular emergency notifications on the NSU website.
• Students are responsible for knowing how to use and access Moodle.
• Students are responsible for being familiar with emergency guidelines.
• Students are responsible for evacuating textbooks and other course materials.
• Students are responsible for knowing their Moodle login and password
• Students are responsible for contacting faculty regarding their intentions for completing the course.
NOTE: Faculty and students should be open, flexible, and show compassion in determining the precise course of action.
Class Disruptions are not tolerated. The use of cell phones, pagers and/or any other electronic personal device in class is prohibited. Any infractions will result in the dismissal from class.