Florida Atlantic University Academic Program Review Self-Study Report Chemistry and Biochemistry Program: Chemistry and Biochemistry Program Director/ Coordinator Name: Jerome Haky and Evonne Rezler Program Self-Study Contact: Jerome Haky Self-Study Contact Email: [email protected] Self-Study Contact Phone Number: 561-297-3338 TABLE OF CONTENTS A. Mission and Purpose of the Program ............................................................................................... 2 B. Previous External Review……………………………………………………………………………………………………………....2 C. Instruction ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Establishment of Student Learning Outcoems .................................................................................. 3 Assessment of SLOs and Program Improvement ............................................................................... 3 Baccalaureate Programs ................................................................................................................... 4 Graduate Programs ........................................................................................................................ 19 Faculty………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..….26 D. Research ................................................................................................................................... 30 E. Service and Community Engagement ............................................................................................. 36 F. Other Program Goals ..................................................................................................................... 40 G. Strengths and Opportunities ......................................................................................................... 41 H. Weaknesses and Threats ............................................................................................................... 42 I. Resource Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 43 J. Future Directions ........................................................................................................................... 47 K. Student Feedback .......................................................................................................................... 47 L. Reviewer Questions………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……50 Appendices Appendix A: Student Learning Outcomes Assessment .................................................................... 51 Appendix B: Assessment for the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry ................................ 53 Appendix C: American Chemical Society Guidelines for Undergraduate Degrees ............................ 54 Appendix D: M.S. and Ph.D. Admissions Information Pages………………………………………………………..…61 Appendix E: Abbreviated Faculty CVs ............................................................................................ .63 1 A. Mission and Purpose of the Program Consistent with the mission of the university and college, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has recently developed the following mission statement: “The mission of the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry is to provide high quality education and state-of–the–art training in research in the fields of Chemistry & Biochemistry through excellence in teaching, research and service. In teaching we will provide to our students the foundation to build a chemistry knowledge base and introduce them to the recent advances in the field. In research we will provide high quality experience in both fundamental and applied research. We will continue to perform basic research that may lead to the discovery of new drugs for the treatment of major diseases and developing new materials for enhancing the quality of life. We will provide service to the university through joint interdisciplinary programs in biomedical, life and environmental sciences and will provide a strong infrastructure consisting of modern and powerful investigative instrumentation. We will provide service to the region and nation by contributing scientific expertise. We will help train high tech workforce needed to help meet the growing demands of industry in Southeast Florida in order to support and sustain economic development in the region.” B. Previous External Reviews The Committee on Professional Training of the American Chemical Society (ACS) reviews undergraduate chemistry programs every five years. Our last full review was reported in December 2012, when it found our program to be consistent with their guidelines for program certification. In accord with the University’s Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), we incorporated several research oriented assignments and topics into chemistry courses for our majors, including Inorganic Chemistry (CHM 3609), Organic Chemistry Laboratory (CHM 2211L) and both Physical Chemistry Laboratory courses (CHM 3410L and 3411L). In addition, we added a requirement for a third semester of mathematics in our BS degree program to ensure improved student success in the Physical Chemistry and other mathematically intensive courses. 2 C. Instruction Establishment of Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) Students enrolled in a BA or BS in chemistry degree are expected to have a thorough understanding of the basic concepts, theories, and experimental findings in the core areas of chemistry: analytical, biochemical, inorganic and physical chemistry. In addition, students will be expected to produce writing that is grammatically correct, well-organized, and properly formatted in accord with the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Style Guide. Furthermore, students are expected to become adept at using critical thinking to evaluate information and data related to chemical processes by applying basic principles of scientific methodology. These include: (1) the nature of scientific explanations, (2) threats to the validity and reliability of observations, (3) the limitations of measurement scales, (4) the use of experimental and quasi-experimental designs to test hypotheses and (5) the proper interpretation of correlational and experimental data. Students in the BA program are also expected to perform laboratory techniques sufficient to conduct basic and advanced experiments in chemistry and biochemistry. These student learning outcomes (SLOs) for both our BA and BS programs are also fully described in the Academic Learning Compacts (ALCs) which can be found in Appendix A. Assessment of SLOs and Program Improvement In the last four years we have begun instituting normalized ACS exams in key core courses (in both BS and BA programs) to evaluate our students’ performance and achievement in comparison to national averages. Results indicate that our students are performing in the 20th-80th percentile nationally, depending on the course, as shown in the Table in Appendix B. The core courses in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry are ACS certified and all courses are also periodically evaluated for content and level of instruction through examination of course syllabi by a departmental committee. This committee has indicated no major problems in the last six years. Also, all faculty are assessed for quality of teaching by a designated master teacher on a regular basis. In the last six years, the quality of teaching by faculty in our Department has been reported to be satisfactory to excellent, depending on the instructor. Results of all assessments are discussed among the members of the appropriate program committee (i.e., undergraduate or graduate), who then make recommendations on any needed changes. For example: as part of our plans for continues quality improvement of our program, we have recently restructured the discussion sections for the Organic Chemistry lecture (CHM 2210) course to combine peer-led-team-learning (PLTL) with computer aided instruction. As a result of these changes we have seen a significant improvement in student understanding of organic chemistry concepts and performance in the course. This program improvement has benefitted our majors and students form other departments and colleges across the university who take this course. 3 Baccalaureate Programs i. State-Approved Prerequisites: The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has three Intellectual Foundations Program (IFP), i.e., core curriculum courses. These are: General Chemistry lecture course (CHM 2045), Contemporary Chemical Issues (CHM 1020C) and General Chemistry for the Health Sciences (CHM 2032). The University’s Core Curriculum Committee has thoroughly reviewed these courses for compliance with FL SUS requirements per regulation 6.017. The University Undergraduate Programs Committee (UUPC) has recommended these courses for approval to the faculty senate and we fully expect that all courses will be approved at the next senate meeting. ii. Limited Access: The BA and BS programs in Chemistry are not limited access programs; they are open to all students admitted to FAU. iii. Admissions Criteria: Incoming Chemistry majors must meet admissions criteria established by the University as described in the University catalog: http://www.fau.edu/academic/registrar/FAUcatalog/admissions.php iv. Undergraduate Enrollment Information: The data in Table 1 (below) indicates that the number of undergraduate Chemistry majors has remained constant over the last two years at 342. This corresponds to ~6