Chemistry, Minor

The Chemistry minor will powerfully equip you to achieve your career goals by integrating the fundamental principles of chemistry with interdisciplinary applications, allowing you to explore a diverse range of advanced topics related to chemistry and how they impact the world.

Educational Objectives

Our interdisciplinary approach creates exciting opportunities to enrich your studies and expand your knowledge in areas of chemistry like aqueous, computational, environmental, organic, physical, analytical, and biochemistry.

Our Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) program will position you to conduct groundbreaking research alongside acclaimed faculty mentors, where you’ll work together co-authoring peer-reviewed journal articles and, in some cases, co-authoring patents.

Our strong industry connections throughout the region offers a powerful launching pad for your future success, including internship and summer immersion experiences with industry leaders including Monterey Bay Analytics, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and UC Santa Cruz.

Our accomplished, supportive faculty dedicate themselves fully to the success of their students, providing mentorship and extensive personalized attention through weekly open study sessions, abundant office hours, and informal problem-solving and work sessions in the “Chem Compound” where faculty offices are clustered.

Complete any twelve (12) unit combination of the following courses, with at least six (6) units being upper division:

• CHEM 110 - Chemistry I Units: 4 and
• CHEM 110L - Chemistry I Lab Units: 1

• CHEM 111 - Chemistry II Units: 4 and
• CHEM 111L - Chemistry II Lab Units: 1

• CHEM 211 - Organic Chemistry I Units: 3 and
• CHEM 211L - Organic Chemistry I Lab Units: 2

• CHEM 310 - Biochemistry I Units: 3 and
• CHEM 310L - Biochemistry Lab Units: 2

• CHEM 312 - Organic Chemistry II Units: 3 and
• CHEM 312L - Organic Chemistry Lab II Units: 2

• CHEM 320 - Environmental Chemistry Units: 3 and
• CHEM 320L - Environmental Chemistry Lab Units: 2

• CHEM 297 - Independent Research Units: 1-2
• CHEM 350 - Analytical & Instrumental Chemistry Units: 4
• CHEM 394 - Chemistry Internship Units: 2-4
• CHEM 397 - Independent Research Units: 1-2
• CHEM 410 - Biochemistry II Units: 3
• CHEM 430 - Environmental and Agricultural Chemistry Topics Units: 1-4
• CHEM 432 - Aqueous Chemistry Units: 3
• CHEM 497 - Independent Research Units: 1-2

You’ll take advantage of our vibrant coastal setting by the incorporation of the local environment in our marine chemistry examples, as well as through course offerings that cover aqueous chemistry, environmental chemistry, and marine chemistry.