ACS-certified BS Degree

“The American Chemical Society (ACS) promotes excellence in chemistry education for undergraduate students. Approved programs offer their students a broad-based and rigorous chemistry education that provides them with the intellectual, experimental, and communication skills necessary to become successful scientific professionals. Offering such a rigorous program requires an energetic and accomplished faculty, a modern and well-maintained infrastructure, and a coherent chemistry curriculum that develops content knowledge and broader skills through the utilization of effective pedagogical approaches.” (From Undergraduate Professional Education in Chemistry: ACS Guidelines and Evaluation Procedures for Bachelor’s Degree Programs, 2015)

The UMass Chemistry curriculum introduces students to chemistry with foundational courses and builds upon these principles with in-depth study in analytical, biochemistry, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry. Students receive extensive laboratory preparation and work collaboratively with faculty and graduate students in their research groups. To be ACS approved our program provided extensive information about our curriculum, faculty, research, laboratories, diversity, safety, infrastructure, and overall teaching environment.

Students can earn American Chemical Society (ACS) certification by completing our BS degree requirements with CHEM 423 (or BIOCHEM 423) and two other Group A CHEM electives.

Bachelor of Science Core Requirements

General Chemistry I: CHEM 121H, CHEM 123H, or CHEM 111 (fall)
General Chemistry II: CHEM 122H or CHEM 112 (spring)
Organic Chemistry I: CHEM 265 and Lab CHEM 267 (fall)
Organic Chemistry II: CHEM 266 and Lab 268 (spring)
Sophomore Seminar: CHEM 291A (fall)
Quantitative Analysis: CHEM 315 (spring)
Inorganic Chemistry: CHEM 341 (fall)
Inorganic Lab: CHEM 342 (spring)
Writing in Chemistry (JYW): CHEM 330 (fall)
Physical Chemistry I: CHEM 475 and Lab CHEM 477 (fall)
Physical Chemistry II: CHEM 476 (spring)

Independent Research: CHEM 388 or Honors Research & Thesis: CHEM 499Y/T

Introductory Biology I: BIO 151
Calculus I: MATH 131
Calculus II: MATH 132
Multivariate Calculus: MATH 233
General Physics I with Lab: PHYS 151
General Physics II with Lab: PHYS 152

Upper-level Courses

12 credits of upper level courses from Group A or B (at least two credits from both). CHEM 423 (or BIOCHEM 423) plus two other Group A CHEM electives for ACS certification

Group A		Group B
Biochemistry for Chemists: CHEM 423 (spring)		Instrumental Analysis: CHEM 514 (fall)
Instrumental Analysis: CHEM 513 (fall)		Independent Study CHEM 396/496 (1-6 credits)
Advanced Inorganic: CHEM 546 (fall)		iCons III: Natural Science 390iH or BIO 383H
Advanced Organic: CHEM 551 (fall)		Biochemistry Lab: BIOCHEM 426 (spring)
Organic Spectrscopy: CHEM 552 (fall)		Electronics for Scientists I: PHYS 531
Comp and Math Methods: CHEM 559 (spring)		Optics with Lab PHYS 553
Materials Chemistry: CHEM 560 (spring)
Advanced Physical I: CHEM 584 (fall)
Advanced Physical II: CHEM 585 (spring)
Chemical Biology: CHEM 581 (spring)
General Biochemistry I: BIOCHEM 423 (fall)
General Biochemistry II: BIOCHEM 424 (spring)
Intro to Polymer Science: PSE 501 (spring)
600 and 700 level CHEM courses accepted