Computational chemistry is a rapidly evolving specialty within the field of chemistry. Computational chemistry is a subfield of chemistry that utilizes theoretical calculations to simulate properties of chemical reactions. Computation is vital to many different industries like medicine, engineering, and environmental. Despite its significance, there are currently no computational chemistry courses offered at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). This study investigates the integration of computational chemistry into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum using WebMO. A computational laboratory exercise was developed for an organic chemistry course to help students visualize building molecules and administered to students in conjunction with their regular laboratory content using a traditional model kit to understand structure. Preliminary results indicate that, despite certain limitations, such as unfamiliarity with software and problems with the visualization of certain topics, the exercise effectively facilitated the incorporation of computational chemistry concepts into the undergraduate laboratory experience.
