The Department has been accredited by the American Chemical Society since 1949 and
boasts three ACS-certified emphases at the Bachelors level: chemistry, biochemistry,
and chemical education. We are the only chemistry department in the southeastern United
States to do so.
The teacher licensure option in the regular chemistry emphasis attracts high ability
students with the potential to be master chemistry teachers in the high schools of
the state of Mississippi. The chemistry licensure program is both NCATE-accredited
and ACS-certified (chemical education). USM is the only university in the state with
a licensure option within a chemistry department.
Numerous chemistry majors have received USM Presidential scholarships, one has been
a Rhodes Scholar finalist, three have been Phi Kappa Phi Silver Bowl and National
Fellowship recipients, five have been Wal-Mart Competitive Edge Scholars, seven have
received Barry Goldwater scholarships, and one of our majors was awarded a UNCF/Merck
scholarship (of which only 15 are awarded annually nationwide).
Our students have gone on to do postgraduate work at prestigious schools such as Caltech,
Baylor, Duke, Emory, Vanderbilt, Harvard, MIT, the University of Virginia, the University
of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin and UT Southwestern Medical
Center at Dallas.
Several undergraduate student teams have participated in microgravity experiments
aboard NASA aircraft. This student-initiated venture has received national attention
and was highlighted in a recent edition of Chemical and Engineering News http://pubs.acs.org/cen/education/7940/7940nasa.html).