A minor in chemistry will provide students with the skills and experiences that will prepare them for a variety of careers and continuing their education in professional schools. Students will have the freedom to select courses in chemistry that will prepare them to do, make, innovate, and reinvent the future in industrial, governmental, or non-profit/activism organizations. Specific career paths include environmental protection and policy, public health and safety, quality control and regulation, pharmaceutical sales, or forensics and toxicology. Students seeking advanced degrees in medicine, dentistry, law, or the biological sciences will broaden their knowledge base and enhance their credentials for the next steps in their career.

Students in the program will be able to apply critical thinking and problem solving skills to integrate chemical concepts to propose and test independent hypotheses as a part of an interdisciplinary team. Students will be able to demonstrate effective written, oral, and electronic communication skills to relate their ideas and findings to both peers and the public at large. Students will gain laboratory skills including the use of common instruments, experimental design, data analysis and interpretation, and the application of chemical safety and hygiene.

This new minor will allow students to continue their study of chemistry beyond what is required for their chosen major, opening opportunities for scholarship by allowing students to pursue cross-disciplinary research in topics like biological chemistry, computational chemistry, chemical physics, and pharmaceutical sciences. Students will also be exposed to research in organic, analytical, physical, inorganic or environmental chemistry research with our chemistry faculty.

The goal of the chemistry minor is to enhance the skills and knowledge base of students to aid in their transition from an undergraduate program to advanced STEM programs and STEM careers. By the time students complete a minor in chemistry, they will be able to demonstrate a mastery of the major concepts and principles of chemistry, and will be able to address how the principles of chemistry relate to the larger world, including the impact of chemical discoveries on social, environmental, economic, and medically related issues.

To complete a chemistry minor, students will be required to take at least 15 credits at the 200-level or above. At least nine of these credits must be taken beyond the chemistry requirement of their chosen major. Students majoring in other sciences, such as biology, biotechnology, physics, or biomedical engineering will have the opportunity to earn a chemistry minor during their time at New York Tech. Students pursuing other STEM majors—or who have the ultimate goal of medical school—may also find it beneficial to complete the minor in chemistry.