Majors | Departments | Certificate Programs | Honors Program | Academic Services | Resources
Hodson Gallery - Hood College

Chemistry and Biochemistry

Overview of Programs

Hood offers two undergraduate majors in the field of chemistry—chemistry and biochemistry. The chemistry major consists of a core of chemistry courses plus additional work in physics and mathematics. The biochemistry major consists of chemistry and biology courses plus essential physics and mathematics.

Chemistry majors can earn secondary teaching certification. Minors are available in chemistry and physics.  An environmental chemistry concentration is offered within the environmental science and policy major.

Hood's faculty—including biochemists; physicists; and analytical, organic and physical chemists—are experts in their fields. These dedicated teachers truly want to help you fulfill your academic and professional ambitions.

Our chemistry and physics classes involve much more than lectures; they stress active participation, team learning and computer-aided experiments in an innovative curriculum. At Hood, all labs are taught by faculty, not student assistants. You'll gain hands-on experience, using the same sophisticated equipment you'll encounter later in the workplace or graduate school. 

Facilities and Instrumentation

Hood's laboratory science programs are housed in the Hodson Science and Technology Center.

Chemistry and physics teaching labs are equipped with computer-controlled data acquisition and analysis systems. Chemistry and biochemistry students routinely use instruments such as:

  • gas chromatographs (GC)
  • High Performance Lliquid Chromatograph (HPLC)
  • ion chromatograph
  • capillary electrophoresis
  • GC-Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS)
  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometer (NMR)
  • Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FT-IR)
  • Visible and Ultraviolet spectrophotometers (UV-VIS)
  • Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometer (AA)
  • calorimeters
  • PCR thermocycler
  • Fluorimeter
  • laser spectroscopy systems
State-of-the-art computer equipment allows students to
  • Measure velocity using photogates
  • Perform sophisticated mathematical calculations
  • "See" molecules in three dimensions
  • Utilize data acquisition and modeling systems
  • Search international scientific databases

Student Organizations

  • Gamma Sigma Epsilon—National Chemistry Honor Society
  • Free Radicals—the student chapter of the American Chemical Society.
Both organizations enable students to gather for presentations by speakers, take field trips and have opportunities for social interaction.

Internships

Some of the nation's top research and biotechnology firms and government agencies are located within a short drive of Hood, giving students access to tremendous resources for research, field trips, lectures, conferences and internships.

These laboratories welcome Hood College interns:
  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
  • National Cancer Institute's Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Park Service
  • National Institute for Standards and Technology
  • Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
  • Southern Research Institute
  • Schering-Plough Pharmaceuticals
  • U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture
The internship program is so successful that there are typically more employer requests for Hood interns than Hood students looking for internships!

Student Success Stories

Our students regularly present the results of their independent projects and have won awards at local, regional and national meetings. Meetings at which students regularly present include: 
  • American Chemical Society (national and regional meetings)
  • Eastern Analytical Symposium
  • Intercollegiate Student Chemists Convention
  • National Council for Undergraduate Research Conference
  • UMBC Research Symposium

Alumnae and Alumni Success Stories

Hood chemistry graduates include research scientists, pediatricians, cancer researchers, forensic scientists and physical therapists. Nearly 100 percent of graduates are working in their chosen career field or pursuing advanced degrees. 

Recent graduates are pursuing doctorates at institutions such as Brown University, Duke University, The Johns Hopkins University, the University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth Medical School, Shenandoah School of Pharmacy and the University of California, Berkeley. Hood alumnae and alumni are working at organizations and firms nationwide, including:

  • Baltimore area hospitals
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb
  • MedImmune
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Peptide Technologies
  • Science Application International Corporation
  • The Institute for Genomic Research
  • The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes

Faculty Success Stories

All faculty in the department hold earned doctoral degrees in their field. In addition, they have been recognized seven times in the past six years with the teaching and advising awards presented by student organizations at Hood. Two have been recognized as recipients of the College's professional development award. Our chemistry faculty have been recognized by the American Chemical Society and the National Science Teachers Association for contributions to and innovations in chemical education.

Faculty
Kevin Bennett

Ph.D., Assocciate Professor of Chemistry and Chair of the Department
Phone: (301) 696-3682
E-mail: bennett@hood.edu

Susan Ensel

Ph.D., Whitaker Professor of Chemistry
Phone: (301) 696-3679
E-mail: sensel@hood.edu

Allen Flora

Ph.D., Professor of Physics
Phone: (301) 696-3680
E-mail: flora@hood.edu

Dana Lawerence

Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Phone: (301) 696-3675
E-mail: lawrence@hood.edu

Chris Stromberg

Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Phone: (301) 696-3678
E-mail: stromberg@hood.edu

Karen Borgsmiller

Ph.D., General Chemistry Coordinator
Phone: (301) 696-3891
E-mail: borgsmiller@hood.edu

For complete information in our online catalog, click here.