Because the discovery of new scientific knowledge is vital, all chemistry majors at Stetson perform research. You may work on campus under the guidance of a chemistry professor, or participate in research programs at graduate institutions, medical schools, national laboratories, or research institutes around the country. Some students receive cash stipends for their laboratory work.

Current research programs at Stetson include studies on natural product synthesis, kinetics of inorganic reactions, environmental chemistry, and FTIR studies of intermolecular hydrogen-bonded interactions. Stetson students often join professors in reporting research results at state and national chemistry meetings.

Gamma Sigma Epsilon members and the Student Affiliates of the American Chemistry Society team up to stage Chemistry Magic Shows for elementary school students from the local area.

Below are just some of the achievements our students have attained.

STUDENT RESEARCH, PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS:

Megan E. Lewis, Rebecca M. Levine, John T. York, W. Tandy Grubbs, "A Quick and Accurate Oxygen Based Pressure Sensor Assay for Measurement of Catalase Activity," Journal of Chemical Education (in press, 2009)

Morris, A.L. and York, J.T., Quantifying the electron-donating strength of phosphine ligands. Journal of Chemical Education (in press, 2009)

William R. Furlong, Michael R. Quackenbush, and Ramee Indralingam, “What is that Colorless Solution? A Qualitative Analysis Laboratory Experiment”, Journal of Chemical education (in press, 2009)

Kevin M. Maloney, Emmanuel M. Quiazon, and Ramee Indralingam, “Measurement of Iron in Egg Yolk: An Instrumental Analysis Experiment using Biochemical Principles”, Journal of Chemical Education, 85, 399 (2008)

At the Spring 2007 ACS Meeting in Chicago, IL, Dr. W. Tandy Grubbs, Professor, Physical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Stetson University, presented Alfonnso Ramirez's research poster entitled "Copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate: Controlling the water content of hydrogels.

Sarah E. Caudill and W. Tandy Grubbs, "Interferometric Measurements of Refractive Index Dispersion in Polymers over the Visible and Near-Infrared Spectral Range," Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 100, 65 (2006)

Namika Nakagawa, William R. Furlong, and Ramee Indralingam, “A Low-Cost Pump Assembly for the Spectrophotometric Detection of the Color Change of an Indicator”, Chemical Educator, 9, 102 (2004)

Organizational Activities:

Stetson's chapter of the Student Affiliates of the A.C.S (SAACS) inducted new members and and presented several chemical magic shows for local fifth-grade students.  In addition, the group sponsored a Saturday event where over one hundred local Boy Scouts, Webelos, and Cub Scouts came on campus to earn chemistry, and health-related merit badges.  The activities of the SAACS, led by Dr. Ramee Indralingam, continues to be a major source of pride for the Chemistry Department.