Computer Graphics and Computation in the Undergraduate Organic and Molecular Modeling Courses

The project establishes a computer graphics laboratory in the Chemistry Department to enable students to gain hands-on experience in molecular visualization, modeling, and computational techniques. The laboratory is used by students in courses in organic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, and molecular modeling. Chemical concepts are demonstrated in course lectures using computer graphics and visualization, and students perform assigned exercises themselves in the laboratory to reinforce and extend their learning of the concepts. Two sessions of the organic chemistry experimental laboratory course are being transformed into molecular modeling sessions, and the graphics laboratory is being used extensively for the current elective course on molecular modeling. Independent, student-initiated molecular modeling projects are being encouraged, and the new equipment allows for sophisticated studies. The effectiveness of incorporating computer methods into undergraduate chemistry will be reported at national meetings and in research papers. This project is advancing involvement with collaborators at the University of Massachusetts, the University of California at Santa Cruz, and elsewhere in preparing a syllabus for the use of molecular modeling in the undergraduate curriculum. *