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Chemistry Seminar Syllabus

Purpose

The purpose of the Chemistry Seminar is

Chemistry Seminar consists of a series of presentations given by current students and by outside researchers from other universities, industrial and government laboratories.

Procedure

Within the Chemistry Seminar course umbrella, there are three courses for which students may be enrolled: Chem 322, 421, and 422. All three courses have a common meeting time each week during the term, which is Friday from 1:30 to 2:50 pm. During the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 Terms, the Chemistry Department's Powell Seminar Series will be held in-person in the Gottwald Auditorium (A001) when there is a Visiting/Guest Scientist as our Seminar Speaker and in Room C114 when there is a Senior Chemistry Major as our speaker.

Chem 322 is a semester course for juniors.
Chem 421 and 422 are semester courses for seniors.
Chem 322 is a prerequisite for Chem 421, and Chem 421 is a prerequisite for Chem 422.

On days with a visiting speaker, we will all meet together in the Gottwald auditorium (GSC-A001) at 1:30 pm. On days with student speakers, if there is just one student presentation, we will all meet in Room C114 starting promply at 1:30pm. If there are two student presentations, the second presentation (Attendance Group B)will start at 2:15pm after the first presentation (Attendance Group A) is over, also in Room C114.. You will be assigned to attend one such student section for the term. You may, of course, additionally attend the student presentation session at the other time period as well your assigned attendance group session.

Seminar Coordinator

The seminar coordinator is Prof. Raymond N. Dominey.

Participation

Attendance

Attendance at seminar each week is expected. You should make every effort to avoid commitments that would interfere with your ability to be present on Fridays at seminar time. Unexcused absences bring the risk of grade consequences.

There are two types of speakers in the seminar series: visiting seminar speakers, who will give a presentation on their research, and senior chemistry majors enrolled in Senior Seminar, who will give a presentations on their chosen subject. Student seminars may either focus on a primary research paper (L) from the current literature or on the speakers' own research (R). Visiting speakers will begin their presentation at 1:30 pm, and most of these will be about 50 minutes, followed by questions.

If no visiting speaker is scheduled, there will be student seminar speakers who will be scheduled to present from 1:30-2:30 pm. All students enrolled in Junior or Senior Seminar are assigned to a particular attendance group, with one or more groups being assigned to attend a particular student presentation each week. You are encouraged to attend more if possible. Active participation is expected of all students in Junior/Senior Seminar.

We sometimes have at least a couple of seminar opportunities outside of the normal Friday seminar times.

Excused Absences

Absences are considered excused for the usual reasons: obligation to a university function (e.g. participating in a track meet or a debate competition) or significant illness. Students who are interviewing at graduate or professional schools are also excused.

However, if you miss seminar for an excused absence, you will be expected to make it up by attending an extra presentation. (Note that a student cannot make up an unexcused absence in this manner.) On the days of student presentations, there may be multiple presentations that you can attend. Normally you would attend only one, but you may need to attend an additional presentation to make up an excused absence. It may not be possible to make up every excused absence, but you should make every effort to do so. If you do not, the Seminar Coordinator will reserve the right to deduct points from your grade.

Please note that if you anticipate going on trips (to visit graduate schools or to interview at professional schools) in the Spring semester, you should try to schedule your oral presentation in the Fall semester. Naturally, the converse is true: if those trips are in the Fall semester, try to schedule your presentation in the Spring.

Discussions

It is expected that students enrolled in the Chemistry Seminar course will be able to talk about science in an effective way. Implicit in this expectation is that you will be able to talk extemporaneously, illustrating your thoughts as appropriate with things you write on paper or on a chalkboard or a whiteboard if you are in a larger group. Accordingly, both those who present and those who attend should expect to be involved in the discussions that accompany seminar presentations, and individuals in either group should be ready to "go to the board" to illustrate or explain ideas. Clearly the presenter in any given week might be expected to know more than others in the room about the subject at hand, but it is our expectation that all those present will be involved in such discussions and that each person in attendance is therefore responsible for making his or her own contributions to the ideas and insights that emerge.

In order to prepare properly for involvement in these discussions, each student is expected to get a copy of the paper to be discussed in his or her session that week, and to spend some time reviewing it prior to coming to the seminar period.

Those who attend a seminar are as important as the person who speaks. It is hard to present a seminar without an audience! Active listening is an acquired skill and one that you can develop. As you listen, take notes. Even if you discard the notes as soon as the seminar ends, you are much more likely to retain something useful from the seminar if your hands are involved as well as your eyes and ears. Additionally, as you listen to the presentation, try to formulate at least one good question, and then in the question period that follows the talk, ask it. If several students in each section do this each week, on their own, the experience will be much more enjoyable. It is polite (and appreciated by the speaker) to applaud at the end of the talk and again at the end of the question period.

Junior Seminar

Requirements and Expectations

If you are part of the chemistry and BMB community here, then you are encouraged to attend and participate in the seminar program every semester, whether enrolled or not.

Students enrolled in Chem 322 are expected to attend each seminar session and to fully participate in the seminar experience. Participation involves reading the research paper before the presentation, attending the assigned presentation, and being involved in the discussion after the presentation.

Chem 322 is normally taken in the junior year and requires regular attendance in the departmental seminar program (~one class hour per week). To help motivate your intellectual engagement with the seminar speakers and their presentations, you will be required to:

  1. Attend all scheduled student seminars and outside guest seminars in an engaged manner.

  2. For all scheduled outside guest seminars (i.e., seminars by visiting scientists), preview their presentation topic by briefly scanning over (i.e., survey reading) one or more of the references listed on the seminar schedule webpage.

  3. For one scheduled visiting scientist seminar, read at least one of the listed references in detail a few days before their seminar; then, write a one-two page, typed, summary and explanation of your understanding of that reference. For guidelines, see descriptions below. The summary/explanation for the reference must be submitted before seminar on the week of the associated seminar presentation.

  4. Write a ½-1 page (i.e., a paragraph), typed, summary/critique for each student seminar. Each summary/critique, for each student seminar presentation, should be submitted before seminar the week following the seminar associated with your critique. You should take notes with pen on paper during the presentation (i.e., no computer usage during the actual presentation) and then compose the summary/critique as soon after the seminar presentation as possible. For guidelines, see descriptions below.

The summary/explanation for the visiting seminar speaker reference should be 1-2 pages and include a description of your understanding of: a) the most important result and/or conclusion presented in the publication, b) the key technique that was central to the experiment design of the research reported in the paper, and c) the relevance of the research, and results thereof, reported in the paper (i.e., why, in your assessment/opinion the research was worth having been published).

The summary/critique for each student seminar presentation should be ½-1 page in length and should identify what, from the seminar presentation, you understood to be: a) the most important result and/or conclusion made by the presenter from the research they presented, b) the key experiment design features of the research reported by presenter, and c) the relevance of the research and results that were presented. In a concluding statement give your assessment of the effectiveness of the seminar presentation in explaining the material (i.e., this could/should include a comment on how you think the talk could have been improved to make it more effective). You should also include, at the very end, at least one question that you asked, and/or formulated and were prepared to ask, the speaker at the end of their seminar.

Junior Seminar Grade

Chem 322 is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis. Regular attendance, full participation,

the summary/explanation for a visiting seminar speaker reference, and

the summary/critiques for each student seminar presentation.... are the major basis for the seminar grade. We expect that there will be no unexcused absences and that excused absences will be made up by attending an extra seminar session. Poor attendance may result in a failing grade.

Senior Seminar

Requirements and Expectations

Students enrolled in Chem 421/422 are expected to attend each seminar session and to fully participate in the seminar experience. Participation involves reading the research paper before the presentation, attending the assigned presentation, and being involved in the discussion after the presentation.

Every student in Senior Seminar must, with the guidance of a faculty mentor, prepare an oral presentation and a written report. The oral presentation and written report should involve significant exploration of related literature so as to develop a background and context into which the featured work is set.

The oral presentation is to be given to a group composed of other seminar students, chemistry and BMB faculty, and interested guests. Note again, that the purpose of your presentation is to educate those in attendance about the nature of the work, its significance and context, and then to serve as a resource during a discussion time focused on the work you presented.

As mentioned above, each Senior Seminar will include both an oral Seminar Presentation and a formal Written Paper. The Seminar Presentation and Written Paper may either be based on one's own Research or on an article from the recent research Literature. In addition to comleting their Senior Seminar during one of the two semesters, each senior is also required during each semester to fully participate in the departmental seminar program. In this context, full participation means, that in addition to regular attendance (~one class hour per week), each student is expected to be fully intellectually engaged during each seminar, whether that involves being the actual seminar presenter for the day or actively listening to the presentation being made, seeking to understand the topic and to formulate follow-up questions to ask the presenter.


To help motivate your intellectual engagement with the seminar speakers and their presentations, you will be required to:

  1. Attend all scheduled student seminars and outside guest seminars in an engaged manner.

  2. Read at least one of the references listed for each of the visiting scientist seminar speakers a few days before the visiting speaker presents their seminar.

  3. Write a ½-1 page (i.e., a paragraph), typed, summary/critique for 3 of the visiting scientist seminar presentations. Each summary/critique should be submitted before seminar the week following the seminar associated with your critique. You should take notes with pen on paper during the presentation (i.e., no computer usage during the actual presentation) and then compose the summary/critique as soon after the seminar presentation as possible. For guidelines, see description below.

  4. Present Your Senior Seminar Presentation to the seminar class, which can either be on your Research or on a recent article from the research Literature.

  5. Write a Formal Report Paper on the same topic (i.e., either your Research or a recent article from the research Literature). The Formal Report Paper must be submitted no later than two weeks after the date of your Senior Seminar Presentation. For guidelines in writing your Seminar Formal Report, see details below near the end of this webpage, and also see the ACS “Preparing a Research Report”.]

The summary/critique for the 3 visiting scientist seminar presentations that you select to submit should be ½-1 page in length and should identify what, from the seminar presentation, you understood to be: a) the most important result and/or conclusion made by the presenter from the research they presented, b) the key experiment design features of the research reported by presenter, and c) the relevance of the research and results that were presented. In a concluding statement give your assessment of the effectiveness of the seminar presentation in explaining the material (i.e., this could/should include a comment on how you think the talk could have been improved to make it more effective). You should also include, at the very end, at least one question that you asked, and/or formulated and were prepared to ask, the speaker at the end of their seminar.

Senior Seminar Due Dates

An electronic version of a one-page Seminar Abstract suitable for distribution to the audience at your Senior Seminar Presentation, must be submitted to the Seminar Coordinator on the Tuesday of the week in which your oral presentation is scheduled. An electronic version of your Formal Report Paper must be submitted no later than two weeks after the date of your Senior Seminar Presentation.

Students are expected to show initiative and take ownership of their work. They should work with their faculty mentor at the time of topic choice, and in the weeks before they present, to fully understand the material and how best to convey it to the respective audiences.

Senior Seminar Grade

Chem 421 is graded on a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory basis with regular attendance and full participation as the major basis for the seminar grade. We expect that there will be no unexcused absences and that any excused absences will be made up by attending an extra seminar session. Poor attendance may result in a failing grade.

Chem 422 will be graded on an A/B/C/etc basis. The letter grade is determined by the faculty evaluations of the oral presentation (45%), faculty evaluations of the written report (45%), and seminar attendance (10%). Thus, the Chem 422 grade may be based on the written report and/or presentation done during Chem 421. If you have an excused absence, you are expected to attend an extra seminar or you may suffer a grade penalty.

Topic, Mentor, and Presentation Date Choices

The topic for the Oral Presentation and the corresponding Written Report may be either: 1) an appropriate primary research paper from the recent research literature, or 2) your own research.

A primary research paper (click here for some advice on locating one) should focus on research that is clearly chemical or biochemical in nature and which reports experiments conducted, results obtained, and conclusions drawn from interpreting those results. You should not expect approval for a paper that does not meet these criteria. It is very helpful for you to talk with a faculty member about the papers you are considering before formally selecting one.

You also need to find a faculty member and ask him/her if s/he would be willing to serve as your mentor in preparing your oral and written reports.

To get approval for your seminar topic, email the following information to the Seminar Coordinator:

  • the name of your mentor
  • an electronic copy of the paper or a link to the document, if your topic is a primary research paper
  • a title for your talk, if your topic is your research
  • four choices of dates for your presentation, in order of your preference, two of which must be dates in the Fall semester and two of which must be in the Spring semester.
Formal Presentation date assignments will be made on September 16, 2022. Although you are not guaranteed to receive your top choice, every effort will be made to provide each student their 1st or 2nd presentation date choice, if possible. When you request a date, also indicate whether you expect to go on interviews to medical school (usually in the Fall) or visits to graduate schools (usually in the Spring).

Oral Presentation

General Information

Student presentations will be given in the 1:30-2:30 pm time slot. The presentation itself should be around 25-35 minutes, followed by about 5-15 minutes of discussion involving both presenter and the audience.

More extensive advice for presenters is provided elsewhere.

Reserving an Oral Presentation Date

You must choose your topic(s)/mentor and submit your presentation dates by the end of the third week of classes (i.e., by September 10, 2021).

When choosing your potential seminar dates, look at the list of available dates and make your request by emailing your top four choices (two from each semester), in order of preference, to the Seminar Coordinator. Although you are not guaranteed to receive your top choice, every effort will be made to provide each student their 1st or 2nd presentation date choice, if possible. When you request a date, also indicate whether you expect to go on interviews to medical school (usually in the Fall) or visits to graduate schools (usually in the Spring).

Keep in mind that:
An electronic version of your Formal Report Paper must be submitted no later than two weeks after the date of your Senior Seminar Presentation. Late submissions will result in a grade penalty.

Grading Criteria

Presentations will be graded by faculty members who are in attendance. They will assign individual scores (1-5) to the following criteria:

The faculty graders will also assign an overall letter grade and may add specific comments to the grading form. These grades and comments can be shared with you by you making an appointment with the Seminar Coordinator to during the second week following your presentation.

Written Report

Written Report Due Dates

An electronic version of your Formal Report Paper must be submitted no later than two weeks after the date of your Senior Seminar Presentation. There will be a grade penalty for every day your paper is late.

General Information

The first page of your written report should be an abstract (your own, not the paper's) in a form ready to be distributed to the audience at your talk: be sure to include the title of your talk, your name, the date of your talk, a brief summary or abstract of material to be presented, and citations of supporting references people should consult who want to know more about your topic. Cite the primary paper first (and label it as “primary paper”) and, separately, the one or two most significant supporting references (label them as “supporting references”). If you list a book, be sure to provide a full citation and to note the page(s) on which relevant material is to be found. The “primary paper” listing will show who did the work; it is helpful to include a statement of where the work was done as well. You may follow any standard format for citations (see Journal of the American Chemical Society, for example), except that it is helpful to add the title of each cited paper.

There is no page limit, but 10-20 pages is typical. You may want to look at review articles such as those in Chemical Reviews or Accounts of Chemical Research for ideas about the format for the paper. If you include figures and/or graphs (and you should), it is best if you integrate them into the typewritten page rather than gathering them at the end of the review.

More extensive advice for report writers is provided under the "Student" "Advice" Menu Item, and also by the American Chemical Society's“Preparing a Research Report”.

With regard to guidance given by the ACS' Preparing a Research Report, depending on your research topic, you may choose to combine the Results and Discussion sections into one Discussion section. Additionally, if you have chosen to base your Senior Seminar on the research Literature rather than your own research, then you should give a general experimental methods description used by the article's authors rather than an formal Experimental section as described in the ACS' Preparing a Research Report

Grading Criteria

The written reports will be graded by two faculty members, your seminar faculty mentor and one other, who will assign individual scores (1-5) based on the following criteria:

The faculty graders will also assign an overall letter grade and may add specific comments to the grading form. These grades and comments can be shared with you at the end of the semester by you making an appointment with the Seminar Coordinator.

Speech and Writing Centers

If you have any concerns about your skills as a speaker, there is a support system in place for you. The UR Speech Center has a range of services to offer, all designed to make you a stronger and more effective speaker, and some of our majors take a speech course somewhere along the line, to build their skills in this area. You need not to have taken a speech course to use the Speech Center. The staff there offers support to students preparing oral presentations; students interested in having help from them can sign up for an appointment on-line. In addition the UR Writing Center is prepared to help with written assignments; and again, appointments for help can be made on-line.

Honor Code

The honor code applies to both written reports and oral presentations. The honor pledge is "I pledge that I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance during the completion of this work.".

Although you will seek help from your faculty mentor, and perhaps other faculty members and students, all work submitted under your signature in this course is pledged as being your own work. All outside work should be cited properly in your written report. In your oral presentation, you should provide proper attribution for all research, figures, etc, that you did not generate yourself.