Our curriculum provides a strong foundational knowledge of chemistry and plenty of hands-on opportunities to apply scientific reasoning to increasingly complex problems. You’ll progress through the coursework and regular labs, culminating in a capstone project that allows you to engage in original research.
Major and Minor Offered
- Chemistry (BS major, minor)
Why Study Chemistry at Principia College?
- Our 6:1 student-to-faculty ratio allows invaluable access to faculty.
- We’ve developed exciting internship opportunities with a variety of companies and organizations, including Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, Coca-Cola, Chevron, and Colgate-Palmolive.
- We prepare students to continue their education in some of the top graduate schools in the country.
- Students have many hands-on learning opportunities—tracking pollution levels in area rivers and streams, conducting experiments in the forensic lab, and using gas chromatography to discover how octane levels relate to the makeup of gasoline.
- You can join our award-winning solar car team and build and race a car in the U.S. and around the world.
Capstone Projects
Engage in original research and present your findings to the College community. Here are topics from some recent projects:
- Bioremediation of diesel fuel in soil
- Non-Newtonian fluid enhancement of Kevlar vests
- Multi-step synthesis of chrysanthemic acid
- Microplastics in the Mississippi River
- Chocolate analysis for fat and carbohydrates
- Isolation of oil from Jatropha seeds
- Supercritical fluid extraction of eugenol oil from cloves
Scientific and Applied Skills
Develop scientific skills by utilizing the department's instrumentation:
- Nuclear magnetic resonance
- Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry
- High-performance liquid chromatography
- Raman spectroscopy
- X-ray diffraction
- UV-visible spectroscopy
- Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
- Electron paramagnetic spectroscopy
Abroads
Principia abroad programs are open to all majors, and students are encouraged to apply for any abroad program that interests them. All abroads involve individual research that students can tailor to their interests.
Note: See the College Catalog for more detailed information about our program and departmental learning outcomes.