Alumni Awards  |  Thoughts from our Alumni

Class of 2009

HMC chemistry graduates go on to careers in:

• Chemistry
• Chemical engineering
• Materials science
• Environmental engineering
• Bioengineering
• Pharmacology
• Biochemistry
• Molecular biology
• Genetics
• Oceanography
• Plant physiology

They go to graduate school, medical, dental, law and business school, or go directly to work. Our graduates run wineries, start their own companies and work in investment banking. All of our recent graduates have found employment or positions in graduate study.

A large fraction of HMC Chemistry graduates go on to further studies at some point in their careers. Harvey Mudd College is rated highest in the nation for the percentage of its graduates in chemistry and math who have gained their Ph.D. degrees; nearly 41 of Harvey Mudd College graduates between 1959 and 1980 have received a Ph.D. Data from the National Research Council and the U.S. Department of Education indicate that from 1979 to 1988, 57 HMC chemistry students earned their Ph.D.'s, thus ranking HMC first proportionally in percentage and 40th numerically in the nation in alumni obtaining Ph.D.'s in chemistry during this period. HMC chemistry alumni include 7 lawyers, 30 M.D.-D.D.S.'s and 180 Ph.D.'s. Harvey Mudd College is ranked number one in the nation in the percentage of women students on campus who earn degrees in chemistry and number two in the percentage of students who earn degrees in chemistry.

Alumni Awards
Members of our senior class of chemistry majors won a Winston Churchill Fellowship and a Fannie and John Hertz Fellowship this year. Over the past two years five HMC Chemistry majors have won National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships, while an additional two students have won honorable mentions. In recent years Caitlin Devereaux '02 was awarded a National Defense Science and Engineering Gradaute Fellowship. Nicole Sampson '85 was the winner of the 2001 ACS Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award and S. Douglas Gilman '84, was awarded the 2001 Career Award from NSF.

Highly competitive national awards won by HMC chemistry graduates include one Rhodes Scholarship, four Winston Churchill Fellowships, three Watson Fellowships, three General Electric Fellowships, one Fullbright, two Hertz Fellowships, two Department of Defense Fellowships and 39 National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowships (eleven in the years 1990 to 1999). A listing of recent national awards to HMC chemistry students is available.

What alumni have to say...
"In the Harvey Mudd Chemistry Department, there is a definite emphasis on discovery." — Ned Zimmerman, Department of Defense Fellow, class of 1996

"I joined the HMC Chemistry Department because I knew it was going to be hard." — Jon Sorenson, NSF Fellow and Churchill Fellow, class of 1996

"In lab we learned about research problems in the world today, not just from textbooks. I learned that chemistry was something I could do as a profession--not just a class." — Ron Zuckermann, Director of Bioorganic Chemistry, Chiron, class of 1984

"In the HMC Chemistry Department, the emphasis is all on undergraduates. It's true—you're all they teach. You can go to their offices to talk anytime." — Mike McAlpin, class of 1996

"Because they only teach undergraduate students, the chemistry professors really care about what you're doing. This is rare in higher education. I continue to see my old professors at professional meetings. We still have a sense of community." — Donald Murphy, Head of Solid-State Research at Bell Laboratories, class of 1968

Discover some of the exciting and diverse career paths our chemistry alumni have followed...