Department Employment Opportunities

Lab Teaching Assistants

The majority of our laboratory courses utilize students as teaching assistants to the instructor. This provides an opportunity for the assistants to reinforce their theoretical knowledge and laboratory skills through peer associated interaction. Specific duties include assisting course instructors with grading, troubleshooting, waste management, and minor solution prep.

Laboratory Preparation Personnel

A number of our laboratory courses require extensive solution and laboratory preparation. Our student laboratory personnel are responsible for all solution preparation and maintenance, the establishment of answer keys, laboratory set-up, assistance with stockroom maintenance, and the ordering of reagents and supplies.

Workshop Leaders

Chemistry workshops are small (~8 students) groups lead by a peer mentor who has been successful in the course in a previous year. The workshop materials which may include passages to read, problems to solve, or short writing assignments are designed by the faculty member teaching the course and tailored to aid in learning the material covered in lecture. The peer mentors work closely with the course instructor, but are individually responsible for their section of workshop and specific duties vary from instructor to instructor.

Summer Research/Employment

An M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust grant provided funds for enhancing the undergraduate research programs in biology, chemistry, physics and biochemistry. The University is currently the recipient of a $350,000 grant from the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust as part of the Murdock College Science Research Program. This program supports six science faculty and twelve undergraduate students for a ten-week period during the summer to pursue research. Student participants will receive a $3,000 stipend and on-campus housing at the University. There will be weekly talks and larger group meetings, as well as intensive work with a faculty mentor. Funding for summer research is intended to provide opportunities for students to begin projects they will continue to carry out during the following academic year. Participating students share their results in the subsequent fall at the annual Murdock Undergraduate Research Conference.

Additional summer research employment maybe available due to funding from alternative sources such as the National Science Foundation and The Research Corporation. For more information please talk to specific faculty members.

There are opportunities for students to apply for summer research programs at the University or for government and government-affiliated labs, such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Lab or the Hanford Labs. Opportunities to work in biological and medical research labs are available through individual faculty contacts.