CHEM 690, Applied Topics in the Chemistry Profession
Syllabus for the course
Spring 2010
Instructor in Charge: Dr. P. Vanýsek; Office Faraday West 418
Credit Hours: 2
(semester 1 and 2, teaching assistants, others 1 hour)
1
(semester 3 and 4)
Meeting place: LaT201, but other
location will be also used
15:00-16:50 Fridays (but other
times/days may be scheduled)
Catalog description:
Issues
regarding the chemistry profession, teaching methods in chemistry, research tools,
information presentation, advanced research, and other subjects not normally considered as
part of more traditional chemistry courses. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 semester
hours. S/U grading. Prerequisite: Consent of department. Credits: 1-2
First year students holding teaching
assistantships will register for two credit hours, those without will register for one.
Second year students will register for one credit hour. Accordingly, there is additional
program for the first year students. This includes for the incoming students taking the
background exams, attendance at presentations of faculty who are seeking new graduate
students and taking the Sate of Illinois Ethics Test. The first year students with
teaching assistantships also attend introductory chemistry courses (CHEM210 or CHEM211),
therefore the difference in 2 or 1 credit hours. Note that these activities do not always
happen on the Fridays. For the CHEM210/211 attendance you will be given choice to pick the
course that best suits your schedule.
TEXTBOOK: There is no textbook for
the course. Materials, as needed, will be provided.
ATTENDANCE:
The attendance is mandatory
for all enrolled students. Note also that for the Safety Component of the course the rest
of the student population, not enrolled in the course, will join you, as this training is
mandatory for everybody. Everybody also takes the Ethics Test annually.
GRADING: The grading is on the
S(satisfactory)/U(unsatisfactory) scale. There may be some graded quizzes. The major
requirement for obtaining the satisfactory grade is participation in the entire scheduled
program and finishing all assigned tasks.
Watch the bulletin board outside the
mail room as more activities will be posted.
DATE dd.mm.yy |
TOPIC |
Presenter/Notes |
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22.01.2010 |
Techniques
for effective teaching |
Prof.
Ballantine |
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12.02.2010 |
Safety
training |
Mr.
A. Small |
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Watch this space for
further program |
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26.03.2010 |
3rd semester reviews |
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2.04.2010 |
Keep
open for Ballantine |
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Pool of topics |
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1 |
Safety (firetraining) |
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2 |
Safety – other topics |
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3 |
Library Search – on line databases |
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4 |
Resources at the department – analytical services, machine shop, storeroom, glassblowing shop, secretaries |
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5 |
Writing proposals for grants, why is it important to graduate students |
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6 |
How to write thesis/dissertation and why does it matter to learn about it early on |
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How to give good presentations |
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8 |
How to write resumes, interview for a job, dress for success |
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How to pair food and wine. There is more than Chardonnay, Chablais and Cabernet. |
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How to use proper software to calculate, graphs and draw. Everybody knows Excel, right? |
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Who is who at the department: Research presentations to incoming students. |
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12 |
Ethics and plagiarism. How the ctrl-C/ctrl-V gets you in trouble. |
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13 |
Library – the physical collection |
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14 |
Where does the research money come from why is it that the solvent spigot in the storeroom is not free? |
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How to write proper e-mails. There is a space after a period, and “I” is a capital letter. |
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1. where do chemicals and supplies come from? Learn to search Fisher, Aldrich, the web for commodities and get the best price. Keep track of the items that you use so you don't run out. |
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2. work ethic, how to manage your time, learn to work at work (like studying for your classes while a reaction is running etc) |
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3. preparing manuscripts for publication, using instructions for authors and understanding that these vary from journal to journal, using Endnotes |
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4. keeping a good notebook and lab records, preparing for experiments |
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5. at the discussion about on-line literature searching, the students should be encouraged to search the current literature often so that they stay on top of the latest publications that are in their field. |
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6. patents??? |
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