The use of computers is ubiquitous in chemistry. Experimental physical chemists use computers to analyze results and fit data to appropriate models. Organic and Inorganic chemists use computers to plan complex sequences of reactions and predict 3D structures and properties of molecules. Analytical chemists use microprocessors to control instruments, collect data, and analyze results.
Computers also control robots that can be used to perform repetitive processes in chemistry.
Computer science will play a growing role in chemistry in the future, but very few people without a Ph.D. degree have the background in both fields that is necessary to make an impact. It is simultaneously a response to the large number of students who want not merely to learn computer science, but to appl y that expertise in a subject area that gives them an edge in the job market. As the student builds expertise in chemistry by taking the full ACS certified B.S. curriculum, elective courses are devoted to mathematics and computer science. This culminates with 09-560, Computational Chemistry, which affords an overview of the are as of overlap of computer science with chemistry. The student then selects one of these areas in which to specialize with a two-course sequence in the senior year.