The Chemistry and Physics programs are located in Herty Hall and Beeson Hall, respectively. The buildings house several innovative teaching spaces including a 64-seat studio laboratory, and faculty laboratory spaces for carrying out undergraduate research. Courses and research are supported by a wide variety of chemical and physical instrumentation.
Student Research Opportunities
We have a long history of scientific research conducted by students. Faculty members lead active research groups in which students acquire introductory to intermediate experimental and computational skills. Our students have contributed work that has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and at scientific conferences. A certain number of research credit hours are required for graduation (CHEM 4999 and PHYS 4999). In addition, the top students of each class are encouraged to apply for the Chemistry and Physics Scholars Program.
Chemistry and Physics Scholars Program
Each year, applicants are selected to receive a yearly research stipend. These funds are renewable annually, and serve to support research with a professor in an area of chemistry, physics, or astronomy. For example, the funds can be used to purchase research equipment, or to reimburse conference travel. The application and selection process are part of the First-Year Academic experience, but it is open to all class levels. Eligibility and guidelines for the scholarship are outlined in the documents below:
Chemistry: Scholars Conditions and Contract
Physics/Astronomy: Conditions and Application
Other Scholarships
The Chemistry and Physics Programs also award several scholarships annually to our best majors. These include the Jesse Trawick Scholarship and Sarah and Abraham Marks Scholarship. Students may apply for these through MyGCSU. Check with the Financial Aid department for details on university scholarships and the Honors College for information about external scholarships.
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Programs are listed here.
Laboratory Equipment
Students and faculty have direct access to an array of computers and instruments which gives students the exposure they need to be successful. Faculty members have private research spaces equipped with fume hoods and ChemTop benches. With the May 2017 renovation of Beeson Hall, the Physics Program gained a state-of-the-art machine shop with a CNC mill. A new, high-definition and fully digital planetarium complements one of the largest research-grade telescopes in the southeast.
New JNM-ECZL400S: 400 MHz, 9.4 T NMR Spectrometer
The department has a new JNM-ECZL400S: 400 MHz, 9.4 T NMR Spectrometer. The ECZ Luminous (JNM-ECZL series) is an FT NMR spectrometer equipped with state-of-the-art digital and high frequency technology. The Smart Transceiver System, a high-speed, high-precision digital high-frequency control circuit, enables further miniaturization and high reliability of the spectrometer. It is capable of high-field and solid-state NMR measurements while maintaining the size of a conventional low-field solution NMR system.
With the new Multi Frequency Drive System one can run multi-nuclei pulse trains on a single physical RF channel. This allows to run modern complex NMR experiments on a spectrometer with very simple configuration.
Chemistry Laboratory Equipment
- (NEW)Ethos UP High Performance Microwave Digestion - photo
- (NEW) IRAffinity-1S FTIR - photo
- (NEW) Jansco FP-8550 Spectrofluorometer - photo
- (NEW) UV-2600i UV-VIS Spectrophotometer - photo
- Agilent 8860GC-5977B MSD - photo
- MacroRam Raman Spectrometer - photo
- Perkin Elmer Spectrum Two IR - Herty Hall photo, photo
- Track Stand Stereo Microscope - photo
- Cary Eclipse - photo
- Cary Series UV-VIS - photo
- NanoDrop - photo
- GOW-MAC - photo
- TA Discovery - photo
- MonoWave 50 - photo
- Varian 60-MHz FTNMR Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer - photo
- SPD-20A Shimadzu High Performance Liquid Chromatograph - photo
- UV-2401(PC) Shimadzu UV-Vis Spectrophotometer - photo
- Perkin Elmer Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy AA - photo
- Rotary Evaporators Rotary-Vap - ISC photo, Herty Hall photo
- Sorvall ST-16 Centrifuge - photo
- Dual processor PowerMac G5s with SCM's Density Functional Software and AutoDock 4 installed
- Mac Pro six-core 16 GB computer (plus 10 TB of data/backup) - photo
Physics Laboratory Equipment
- (NEW)Voltera V-One Desktop PCB Printer - photo
- Compact Research Coater System - photo
- 3D Printers - photo 1, photo 2
- 24-seat HD Digitalis Planetarium - photo
- 24-inch Planewave Telescope inside a 16-ft dome - photo
- Lincoln Electric 275 Precision Tig Welder, Victor Technologies Cutmaster 102 (Plasma Cutter), & Miller Millermatic 251 Mig Welder - photo
- Welding Table - photo
- Sand Blaster - photo
- CNC Milling Machine PCNC 1100 Series 3 Personal CNC (Tormach) - photo
- Slant Pro CNC Lathe Machine (Tormach) - photo
- PCNC 440 Personal CNC (Tormach) - photo
- Colchester 600 Lathe - photo
- Grizzly Mill with Stand - photo
- G0768 Grizzly Lathe - photo
- Drill Press - photo
- Milling Machine Powermatic 8291 - photo
- Matsusada High Voltage Power Supply - photo
- Oerlikon Turbo Pump - photo
The Science Education Center
The Science Education Center at Georgia College & State University is dedicated to excellence in science teaching and learning. The Center is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences. Through courses, workshops, camps, scientific competitions, partnerships, curricular and other educational activities, the Center acts as a vehicle for enhancing science education for students from P-16.
OASIS
The Oconee Area Strategic Initiative in Science (OASIS) is a consortium chartered in 2001 to address challenges and solutions in K-16 science in the seven partner counties (Baldwin, Hancock, Jasper, Johnson, Putnam, Washington, and Wilkinson). OASIS involves K-12 teachers, business representatives, Oconee RESA consultants, and Georgia College faculty and students.