TCU Chemistry Boot Camp
2023 TCU Chemistry Boot Camp will begin on July 5
Our goal is to help you build the fundamental knowledge and the skill sets necessary to successfully transition into General Chemistry at TCU. The course is free and no credit (grade) is associated with it at this time.
TCU Chemistry Boot Camp will focus on:
- Exposure to the fundamentals of General Chemistry
- Working practice problems
- Getting familiar with the technology
- Growing your confidence in your abilities
Delivery
- Boot Camp will be delivered using the D2L online learning platform provided by TCU. All Zoom links, material, discussion boards, etc. will be linked through the D2L site.
- Content and schedules will be posted on D2L weekly – for you to work through at your own pace.
- There will be “live” sessions with faculty and TAs throughout the week (schedule TBD). These will be recorded and posted if you can’t make one or more. The goal is to make this accessible and easy for you to work within your schedule.
- There will be a discussion board for students to ask questions and interact with one another.
- The Boot Camp course shell will appear under the Special Topics tab in D2L when your enrollment in the platform is complete
- You’ll be able to catch up on the course material at your own pace if you enroll late or miss material.
Schedule
- The boot camp will begin on July 5 and will last for six weeks.
- We anticipate that you will spend ~1-2 h each day with the course. However, extra practice is encouraged! We hope to provide you with many opportunities to solidify your skillsets, which we think is integral to being successful in general chemistry.
- Each day (Monday – Friday) will have a video posted for you to watch. The majority of these videos have been prepared by TCU Boot Camp Faculty and are good representations of the lecture material you will see in person with us for General Chemistry in Fall 2023.
- Each day (Monday – Friday), you will have an assignment and/or examples to help you practice implementing the new knowledge.
- Each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday you can work with your TCU Boot Camp Faculty and/or TAs. We will have problems that we work through with you. Times and Zoom links (TBA) will be posted on the D2L Boot Camp Calendar for these meetings.These sessions and the discussion board are intented for you to have the opportunity to ask questions and clarify your understanding of the material.
- Course discussion threads will be live for each of the six modules. Faculty and TAs will engage in these threads and encourage student involvement.
- The schedule is designed for flexibility. It is important to cover all of the material, but if you miss a day or more, you can catch up in your own time. We will have all faculty sessions recorded and posted on D2L.
How do I sign up?
What should I do to prepare?
Make sure you login to D2L on July 5 to get started!
Reminder
Courses Taught
Please refer to TCU Online for specific class related links and documents.
| Courses Name | Courses Number | Semester(s) |
|---|---|---|
| General Chemistry I | CHEM 10113 | Fall 2013, 2014, 2017, 2020 |
| General Chemistry Laboratory | CHEM 10125 | Spring 2013, 2014, 2017 |
| Special Topics in Bioinorganic | CHEM 50230 | Spring 2012, 2019 |
| Special Topics in Organometallics | CHEM 50230 | Fall 2015 |
| Advanced Inorganic Chemistry | CHEM 50163 | Fall 2010, 2011, 2012 |
| Chemical Instrumentation | CHEM 40172 | Spring 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2021 |
| Advanced Inorganic Lab | CHEM 50162 | Fall 2016, 2018, 2019 |
| Senior Seminar | CHEM 40091 | Fall 2016 |
Safety Training
Contact Rich Adickes (R.ADICKES@tcu.edu) to get your safety training account setup.
TCU High-Performace Computing Center
Copy/Paste this link into your browser (https://tcu.box.com/s/j3vpc39go586s3o8t92tq8nh5i4er8ou) to learn about using the cluster. (The link is restricted to individuals with TCU credentials: students, staff, and faculty)
NMR
NMR Instructions here
Chemistry Links
- TCU Chemistry
- ACS Website
- ACS
Publications
Page
- PhD Comics
- Organometallic HyperTextBook
- GAMESS
- EMSL Basis Set Exchange
- TACC
- CCDC
- Buffer
Design
-
Molecular Weight Calculator
- Verified Biological
Protocols
- The Periodic Table of Comic
Books
- Elements Handbook
- Symmetry @
Otterbein
- Isotopic Distribution
Calculator-MS
- Reactions: The ACS Undergrad Blog
site
Outreach
ACS Student Affiliate Chapter
Sponsors: Drs. Kayla N. Green, Heidi Condrad, and Julie Fry
‘Outstanding’ Chapter 2011-present.TCU Chemistry Club has earned recognition by the ACS for our work in the DFW community with ‘Outstanding’ and the ChemLuminary Award in recent years. We have a small, but very active group of members and focus on bringing chemistry to the DFW community and preparing chemistry/biochemistry majors for the next step toward their careers. If you would like for us to work with your school, please contact Dr. Green via e-mail: kayla.green@tcu.edu.
We have been filming our volunteers along with volunteer patients from Cook Children’s Hospital
performing chemistry experiments and demos as part of Sick Science Stuff Show, shown on the Cook
Children’s television network: GetWellNetwork ®. Cook Children’s Hospital contains 429 beds and sees
well over 100,000 patients per year, each of whom have the potential to be served by our project.
GetWellNetwork® is a computer, TV and gaming system available in each patient room. The system will help
appropriate individuals (family) learn more about a child’s diagnosis and treatment, help with medical
center questions, and provide entertainment. Our show is filmed and produced with Cook Children’s. With
several full-length episodes, commercials, intros, and promos filmed to date, Sick Science Show is
already being currently run on the Cook Children’s television network. The hospital contains an in-house
network of various television channels, most of which are produced by Director Shawn Griffith of the
Child Life Zone within the Cook’s Hospital system. If you would like to see examples of our videos,
please contact: kayla.green@tcu.edu.
Each week TCU student volunteers visited Crowley Middle School (Fall 2013) and Burton Hill Elementary
School (since Spring 2014). We have developed 20 kits (and growing) that each fit in a portable plastic
container to take to each school. Each kit centers around a fundamental chemistry topic, ex: Chemical
Changes (Rainbow pH tube, oscillating clock reaction and baggie reactions), Energy Changes
(endo/exothermic reactions, flaming vapor ramp demo, endothermic solids demo), color changes as an
indication of a chemical Change (Flame tests, luminol luminescence, "Kool-Aid to water to milk").
These generally consist of adapted procedures from ‘Chemistry Demonstrations’, J. Chem. Educ., ACS
Education Links, Steve Spangler Science, Flinn Scientific and others from whom we regularly purchase
supplies. We use these in addition to the ACS ambassador kits to get the kids excited and
knowledgeable about fundamental chemistry. TCU volunteers have also participated in a ‘career’ day and
helped discuss potential careers in science with these young students using the knowledge gained
through Career Seminars organized by ACS Student Affiliate Chapter and ACS Career Opportunities at ACS
meetings.
Join us for Chemistry Connections 2018 at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History! Volunteer
support for the 2018 event is provided by Texas Christian University, Southern Methodist University,
Texas Wesleyan University, Texas Woman’s University, University of Dallas, University of North
Texas, University of North Texas-Health Science Center, University of Texas at Arlington, Eastfield
College, Tarrant County College, Birdville High School, Fort Worth Country Day, Lamar High School,
Southwest Christian School, Trinity Valley School, STEAM Middle School, Fort Worth Police
Department.
This is an annual event (since 2011) in which 11+ DFW Universities and 6 DFW High Schools have
brought chemistry to over 20,000 visitors to date. We work closely with Ann Herndon and Cathy
Barthelmy at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History (FWMSH) to plan this event scheduled
during National Chemistry Week. As TCU is just ten minutes from the museum, we typically have
undergraduate and graduate students there Tuesday-Saturday each day 10 am. -2 p.m. During the week,
TCU volunteers provided hands on activities such as using miniature wooden roller coasters to
demonstrate potential and kinetic energy, the baggie experiment (chemical to thermal energy and
exothermic reactions), and numerous smaller sections where the children could experiment with
poppers to learn about energy.
We’d like to thank our sponsors: ZS Pharma and DFW American Chemical Society for supporting this
event!
Career Seminar speakers are invited to visit TCU each semester for the TCU Chemistry Club, Majors
and graduate students. As the DFW region is booming with growth in the scientific industry, we have
no problem recruiting speakers in the fields of forensics, recycling, medical analysis, science
writing, and the chemistry of brewing. The group has also enjoyed seeing chemistry in action at Rahr
Brewery (Nick Bigham, ’13 is now the lead chemist at Rahr) and UTSW Imaging Center for example.
I have worked to collect and organize our demonstrations and hands-on activities into 1-page handouts
for our volunteers and stored with each kit for easy use. These have been derived from co-workers at
TCU, UNT, SMU, TWU and suppliers of demonstrations. I quickly learned that parents and teachers wanted
copies. I have collected these (over 45 experiments) and organized them in sections of activities
appropriate for: hands-on at home vs. classroom and demonstrations for trained science teachers.
Although this is an ever evolving document, I quarterly print out and have copies bound for local
teachers and home-school parents/teachers that I have the pleasure of interacting with through my
leadership with TCU Chemistry Club. If you are interested in obtaining a copy, please e-mail Dr.
Green: kayla.green@tcu.edu
