Distinguished by its academic rigor, experiential focus and research excellence, the science at Amherst program has a distinguished history of advancing scientific understanding. That legacy continues today, as faculty pursue research in topics ranging from the quantum behavior of molecular nanomagnets, to brain circuitry, to fish evolution, to disease transmission and genomics.
Amherst students are taught by and collaborate with renowned scientists. Forty percent of Amherst students conduct independent honors work that is often similar in scope and depth to graduate-level work. In fact, it’s not unusual for Amherst students to be listed as co-authors of scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and to present findings at national conferences.
At Amherst, undergraduate students work directly with faculty on empirical scientific research that matters. As an undergraduate at Stanford, I worked with graduate students on research, but at Amherst, my students work directly with me!”
— Catherine Sanderson, Manwell Family Professor in Life Sciences
Visit our academic department sites to learn about our STEM majors and more.
How do physical laws change at the small length and energy scales of individual molecules? What design principles break down at the sub-cellular level and what new chemistry and physics become important?
Concepts of thermodynamic equilibrium and kinetic reactivity and the dynamics of chemical reactions. Whether a specific reaction can occur and how fast a feasible reaction will occur.
The Schrödinger cat paradox and the quantum measurement problem; Bell’s inequalities, entanglement, and related phenomena; secure communication using quantum cryptography; how quantum computers can solve certain problems more efficiently.
The STEM Incubator is a new cohort program designed to support and train students who are underrepresented in STEM disciplines, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous, first-generation and low-income students.
More and more, the world needs people who can analyze data or take quantitative concepts and apply them to answer important questions. The Moss Center is here to help you develop these skills, regardless of your quantitative background.
The Being Human in Stem (HSTEM) Initiative fosters an inclusive, supportive community by helping students, faculty, and staff understand and navigate diverse identities.
Assistant professor Jacob Olshansky has won a grant for his research on “tunable quantum dots as sensitizers for photocatalytic CO2 reduction.” He and his students are exploring how quantum dots might convert carbon dioxide into a carbon-neutral fuel.
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