Teaching and Research
at Fredonia

The Fredonia Chemistry and Biochemistry department is blessed with an enthusiastic faculty and eager students. Fredonia is one of the most selective of the State University's Arts and Sciences Colleges, and we routinely win top-place ranking in surveys such as US News & World Report America's Best Colleges listings. Average SAT scores for Fredonia freshmen now tops 1100. Chemistry students are very competitive - our alumni are on the faculty at the Unversity of California at Berkley, Pennsylvania State University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, among others. They have pursued graduate degrees at Cal Tech, University of North Carolina, University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and Cornell University, among many others. Finally, our students perform at or above the national average on the standardized ACS examinations.

Undergraduate research is a cornerstone of our curriculum. Almost all students complete at least a semester of research, and many students work on research during their entire junior and senior years. Undergraduate research is not only an objective of the department, but also of the university and thus our facilities have been generously funded. Our faculty are expected to do publishable research with student co-authors. Faculty are also expected to apply for external funds to support their research.

Our upper-division courses usually have small class sizes, typically less than 20 students. This size class allows for a great deal of student-faculty interaction. Lower division classes rarely have more than 100 students, and usually range from 20 - 80. Laboratory courses never have more than 24 students. Even with freshmen, the chemistry department puts an emphasis on one on one interaction.

We also offer a master of science in chemistry. This is a small program, typically graduating one or two students per year. We offer teaching assistantships - these graduate student teaches some of our general chemistry laboratory sections. The major part of the degree is the research thesis - most graduate students end up doing publishable research.