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Teaching Chemistry with MATLAB
Faculty across all levels of chemistry courses are incorporating quantitative thinking as a critical skill for students to learn. In addition to making sure students learn the discipline-specific chemistry concepts and associated mathematics, courses at the undergraduate and higher levels are also teaching computation – such as how to access, visualize, and analyze data, and the skills required to accomplish these tasks. Instructors choose MATLAB because students can get started easily, work in a single platform, and quickly find helpful resources.
Teaching computation and domain knowledge in a single course is challenging, and thus, requires some forethought and a well-organized course framework. Also necessary are problem sets and other resources, such as videos, for students to learn required foundation material and develop necessary programming skills.
Introducing MATLAB to Students
- MATLAB Onramp (interactive tutorial)
- Getting Started with MATLAB (10:00) (video)
Tools and Code Examples
- EasySpin – Toolbox for simulating and fitting EPR spectra
- Spinach: A fast spin dynamics simulation library (supports NMR, EPR, MRI and more)
- Chemical Kinetics with MATLAB
- StoichTools: Tools for Doing Stoichiometry
- Plot Hydrogen Atom Molecular Orbital
- Chromatography Toolbox
- Atomistic Trajectory Operations in MATLAB
- Data Acquisition Examples
Interactive Apps
Course Curricula
Case Studies & Pedagogy
- How Schools are Developing Skills Across the Curriculum
- Building Computational Thinking Through Integrated Curriculum (6:54) - Video
- White Paper: Integrating Computing Throughout the Chemical Engineering Curriculum
- Beyond Academia: Argonne National Laboratory Develops Sensor for Chemical Agent Detection
Textbooks
- Introduction to Software for Chemical Engineers
- Introduction to Chemical Engineering Computing, 2e
- Statistics for Chemical and Process Engineers: A Modern Approach
- Practical Data Analysis in Chemistry
- Process Modelling and Simulation in Chemical, Biochemical and Environmental Engineering
- Spectral Methods in Chemistry and Physics
- Chemistry LibreTexts
Additional Resources
- Bioinformatics Toolbox
- Access standard file formats for biological data, such as Protein Data Bank (PDB), mass spectrometry data, online databases, websites, and more
- Structural Analysis: Visualize and analyze 3-D structures of molecules
- Mass Spectrometry and Bioanalytics
- Connect to data acquisition cards, devices, and modules
- Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering
Teach with Live Editor
Combine code, output, and formatted text to create an interactive, executable narrative.
Visualize the 3-D Structure of a Molecule
Import protein information from the Protein Data Bank repository.
