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Why chemistry?

Find your niche in chemistry and make your own discoveries.

In a new video produced by University Marketing and Communications, the University of Utah Department of Chemistry invites budding scientists from a diversity of backgrounds to study the fundamental discipline of chemistry. The department provides its students and researchers with the tools and experiences to make their own discoveries and advance science.

You can also find this video at the Department of Chemistry’s website here.

The video features chemistry students Ella Spurlock, Lydia Fries and Bryan Banuelos Jara telling the stories of their chemistry journeys. It aims to help students who are curious about chemistry discover that there is something meaningful for them to contribute to the world.

“There are so many options in the world of chemistry,” Spurlock says. “So try different things. Find your niche in chemistry. And take advantage of every opportunity afforded to you from the chemistry department. There are many.”

“The key message we want to convey with our student video is that the chemistry department provides students with opportunities to make discoveries in the research lab, and that each student has something unique to bring to the greater science community,” says Anne Vivienne, director of alumni and community engagement in the Department of Chemistry. “We embrace the energy and creativity of young scientists from all backgrounds. Our goal as faculty and staff in the department is to help each student discover their own potential, and to provide them with the tools, platforms and experience to impact the changes we need in the world now and moving forward.”

Faculty members nominated students to appear in the video who had taken advantage of research opportunities including the ACCESS program, Vivienne says. From those nominations, the department chose students who have used available resources to carve their own path.

“These students show that anything is possible with chemistry for anyone who has the curiosity and desire to explore the world at the molecular level,” she says.

Learn more about majoring in chemistry here.