Ten appropriately-configured workstations that will support Wavefunction's SPARTAN software are being added to the laboratory equipment available. The workstations, combined with Spartan's flexibility, intuitive dialogues, state-of-the-art high-performance computing and state-of-the-art graphics are allowing the Department to bring computational chemistry to at least eight courses in its curriculum (more than two-hundred students per semester are being served by this new program). Spartan is a unique pedagogical tool. It can be used at several levels of sophistication to easily and effectively teach students at all levels (from freshman to senior and major to non-major) about molecular structure, electronic structure, thermodynamics, and reactivity. For many years now, computational chemistry has played a very significant role in both industrial and academic, graduate-level research, and now is the time to introduce computational chemistry into the undergraduate curriculum.
