Student & Faculty Research

The history of student-faculty research in chemistry at LVC dates back to the 1940s when Dr. Tony Neidig, LVC Class of 1943, established the first joint undergraduate student-faculty research program in the country. That pilot program, supported by a three-year grant from Research Corporation, was dramatically successful and resulted in a 1950 publication by Neidig and four undergraduate students in the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society. Today, The Valley continues to be recognized as a national leader in undergraduate science education. This esteemed reputation has led to the College receiving numerous federal and corporate grants to expand student-faculty research and enable LVC to provide students with state-of-the-art scientific equipment.

Today, there are extensive opportunities for chemistry students to participate in research and professional publications/presentations with LVC faculty. In the past 10 years, our chemistry majors have been co-authors with their faculty on more than 20 journal publications in scientific journals such as Langmuir, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Journal of Physical Chemistry, Applied Catalysis, Inorganica Chimica Acta, and Journal of Chemical Education.

In addition, our chemistry students are pretty successful themselves, presenting their student-faculty research and posters at conferences nationwide, and often beating students from large universities. Recent student research and/or poster projects have been judged first or second place winners at national professional conferences ranging from Anaheim and San Francisco to Baltimore and Philadelphia. Our graduates successfully move into Ph.D. programs, teaching positions, health-professional schools, and a wide range of chemically-related professions.