Because of its broad scope, contemporary chemistry offers exciting employment opportunities in rapidly growing technical fields, such as materials science, polymers, biochemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceutcal and medicinal chemistry, and environmental science. Graduates with a master's degree in chemistry are prepared to enter any of these fields and more, since chemistry is the central science with connections to physics and mathematics, biology and medicine, and environmental sciences. According to the American Chemical Society, which is the national professional association for chemists, "Many predict a growing role for chemistry as we confront the major issues confronting the world in the 21st century: providing energy, responding to regulation, protecting the environment, improving health and feeding the world."

The reasons for pursuing a master's degree in chemistry are as diverse as our students. Many obtain there master's degree to gain entry into industrial or government positions that require a greater degree of expertise, respnsibility and independence than can be expected of a candidate with a bachelor's degree. Others use the master's program as a stepping stone to doctorial studies by improving their GPA and enhancing their research experience. Still, other students obtain the master's degree to gain expertise in chemical education-in fact, several of our recent graduates are teaching at local community colleges.

National reputation- National agencies consider the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Cal State Fullerton to be one of the country's best programs among master's colleges and universities. A recent survey by the National Science Foundation shows that Cal State Fullerton is ranked 4th in the nation among chemistry and biochemistry departments at comprehensive universities in terms of the number of graduates who go on to receive doctoral degrees. In addition, one of our faculty members was honored recently by the American Chemical Society with its pretigious annual award for outstanding research at a predominantly undergraduate institution.

Outstanding Research Opportunities- The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Cal State Fullerton has nineteen full-time faculty members. Research interests cover most areas of chemistry and biochemistry, including everything from laser spectrometry and environmental chemistry, to plant biochemistry and x-ray crystallography. Extramural research funding has recently been in excess of $1.3 million per year, with active reasearch support from a variety of sources, including the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Research Corporation and the Camille-Henry Dreyfus Foundation. In addition, we offer excellent reasearch facilities. A variety of modern research-grade instruments, including high-field NMR, are available in the Science Laboratory Center, a new building first occupied in 1994. The department is also home to the W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Molecular Structure, a comprehensive x-ray defraction facility and computational laboratory that serves all 22 campuses of the CSU system. The center is one of the few such facilities of its kind to be found at a predominantly undergraduate institution.

High Quality Faculty- Our chemistry and biochemistry faculty members are known for their teaching and research skills. Five of our department members have received Cal State Fullerton's Outstanding Professor Award in the last 20 years-more than any other department on campus.