98447 Participation in research can be pivotal in an undergraduate's growth toward a profession in chemistry. The research experience can be an important extension of the classroom, integrating the chemical knowledge students have been building throughout their course work.
Research can also be a focal point for a student's course work.
Undergraduates conduct chemical research at many college, university, industrial, and government labs. The richness of this endeavor can be seen by the many regional and national undergraduate research symposia sponsored by the American Chemical Society, Council on Undergraduate Research, and other organizations. Yet while undergraduate research in general is strong, individual participants can find themselves isolated and limited to interactions with peers and faculty at their home institutions. The number of researchers in a given field is usually much smaller in an undergraduate environment than in graduate and industrial settings. Furthermore, far fewer students in undergraduate settings are able to attend national meetings and engage in peer discussions with researchers than are students in graduate research environments.