Teaching Professional Skills to Chemistry and Biochemistry Majors

Abstract

Our department houses both an ACS‐certified Chemistry major and an ASBMB‐certified Biochemistry major. For a number of years, the department has required completion of a sophomore‐level professional skills course for all majors, meeting 1.5 hours per week. This course includes searching the scientific literature (including the use of PubMed and SciFinder), scientific writing, oral and poster presentation skills, career planning and resume writing, and scientific ethics. Enrollment is capped at 12, to allow each student to give two in‐class presentations. A challenge has been allowing students to pick topics that interest them, that have scholarly sources available, and that can be accomplished by a student presently enrolled in second‐semester organic. Students have particularly struggled to include enough chemistry in their presentations. We will share several strategies that we have used to run a course that serves students from both majors.