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

See more MATLAB examples

Interactive Apps

• Curve Fitting App
• Molecular Viewer

Course Curricula

• Curve Fitting Teaching Activity in MATLAB
• Chemical Stoichiometry Using MATLAB

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

See more books

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