Environmental chemistry at Sir Winfred Grenfell College.

This College has designed a degree program with the needs of an environmental chemist in mind.

Since the inception of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College (SWGC) in 1975, the chemistry faculty have endeavoured to be innovative in their teaching and scholarly work [1-3]. Over the last ten years,

the mandate of the College has shifted from that of a two-year feeder institution to a degree-granting constituent college of Memorial University of Newfoundland (MUN). These degree programs are not intended to duplicate those of the St. John's campus, but to be unique to SWGC. We decided that environmental science, an area in which MUN St. John's lacked undergraduate programs, would be a valuable degree program for students and it would provide us with continuing opportunities for creativity in program design and course content. However, rather than designing a superficial, generalist degree, we felt the need for two focused streams with a depth as well as breadth of study, one emphasizing ecology and the other environmental chemistry.

Surveying environmental science offerings at other institutions, we saw that they seemed to be clustered at two extreme positions: programs that are conventional chemistry degrees with one or two general environmental science courses "grafted on"; and ecology programs with limited chemistry content. We felt that the chemistry stream students would be best served by a degree program devised specifically for the perceived needs of an environmental chemist. Hence with input from external advisors, we developed a curriculum that integrated the principles of chemistry with their environmental applications. This program is now in its fourth year of operation at SWGC with the first graduating class due in the Spring of 1998 and we feel this is an appropriate time to report on it.

The first two years of the four-year program are similar to standard Chemistry degree programs. Students complete General Chemistry, Calculus, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Introductory Physical Chemistry, and Introductory Inorganic Chemistry courses. In fact, with only minor differences these two years correspond to those of the MUN Chemistry and Biochemistry BSc and to the requirements for entry into the MUN Pharmacy program. Consequently, students may complete two years of a MUN science program before electing to join the SWGC Environmental Science program.

In their third and fourth years of studies, students in the Chemistry Stream are required to take courses in Aquatic Chemistry, Atmospheric Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, and the Organic Chemistry of Biomolecules, together with a course sequence in Environmental Analytical Chemistry. Each course blends theoretical and applied material; for example, the content of the Atmospheric Chemistry course includes principles of photochemistry and gas-phase kinetics as well as discussion of atmospheric reaction mechanisms. The Environmental Analytical Chemistry and Aquatic Chemistry courses have accompanying laboratory components that emphasize not only wet-bench techniques (including dissolved oxygen, and specific ion determinations) and instrumental methods of analysis (such as GC, GC-MS, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and AA) but also sampling techniques. For example, students thoroughly analyze water samples taken from a number of sites along the Corner Brook river. In addition, students are required to participate in a fourth year Environmental Science Seminar course and complete a one-semester research project. Part of the seminar course involves visiting speakers who bring a "real world" context to environmental problems while the research project enables the students to apply the skills and techniques they have mastered to a practical problem.

Honours students are required to take two courses from a set comprised of advanced Environmental Organic Chemistry, advanced Aquatic Chemistry, Groundwater Flow, and Fundamentals of Soil Systems; these courses also being open to general degree students. A two-semester research project is a requirement for achievement of the Honours degree, along with maintenance of MUN standards for Honours.

We are insistent that students match their depth of knowledge in environmental chemistry with a good knowledge base in other aspects of environmental science and, as well, in the social context of the environment. To fulfil this first criterion, students must choose from a selection of courses in Global Environmental Change, Transport Phenomena, Oceanography, Energy and the Environment, Comparative Marine Environments, and Meteorology. Students are also required to complete first-year Biology, second-year Ecology, and Statistics courses. To encourage breadth outside of the natural sciences, students choose two (or more) courses from a set of social science and humanities offerings that include: Environmental Economics, Environmental Ethics, Environmental Policy, Introduction to Mapping and Remote Sensing, and Cultural Crises and the Environment.

In many senses, environmental science is a discipline undergoing definition. However, we are confident that our graduates, with their focused yet broad-based program, have a thorough grounding in many of the multitudinous aspects of environmental chemistry. For additional information on the program, see our web site at http://www.swgc.mun.ca/envs/bsenvs.htm.

References:

1. Alper, A. 'The Chemistry Department at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College', Chemistry in Canada, 35(10):9-11, 1983.

2. Abhyankar, S.B., Last, A.M., Monaghan, P.K., Perkins, R.R., Rayner-Canham, G.W., Reed, J.N., and M.J. Webb., 'Scholarship and Chemistry Teaching in the Two-Year College', J. Chem. Educ., 68:145-148, 1991.

3. Michael, T.H.G., Newbold, B.T., Shemilt, L.W., and A.W. Tickner, Chemical Canada 1970-1995, The Chemical Institute of Canada, pp. 160-161, 1995.

Sudhir Abhyankar, MCIC, BSc (Bombay), MSc (Bombay), PhD (Florida State), has a background in organic chemist and chemical education. He is Past President of College Chemistry Canada and he is currently researching aspects of pulp and paper chemistry. Julian Dust, MCIC, BSc (Waterloo), MSc (Dalhousie), PhD (Queen's) is also an organic chemist. His research interests are in the fields of water-soluble polymers and in environmental organic chemistry such as decomposition pathways of common herbicides. Don-Roger Parkinson, MCIC, BSc (Brock), PhD (London), is an analytical chemist. His current research focuses on the study of environmentally important compounds and on the use of HPLC, GS-MS, and AA techniques for environmental monitoring. Geoff Rayner-Canham, FCIC, BSc (London), PhD (London) is an inorganic chemist with a strong interest in chemical education. His current research work is in the fields of chemical education and the history of science.