The lab renovations coincide with a switch of the lab component of the department's Chem 17/27 organic chemistry track from the fall to the spring.

The fall course Chemistry 17, "Principles of Organic Chemistry," traditionally included the lab component of the year-long Chem 17/27 organic chemistry track, but students complained they did not have the adequate background from first-semester organic chemistry to be able to understand the experiments.

In contrast, organic chemistry students in the more theoretical Chem 20/30 track, which is a spring-fall track designed for chemistry concentrators, had their lab component bundled with the secon-semester segment of the track, Chem 30. In the past, Chem 17 and Chem 30 students therefore shared the same lab space and conducted the same experiments in the fall, but whereas the Chem 17 students frequently had not been introduced to the chemistry concepts used in the lab, their Chem 30 counterparts had already been taught all the necessary theory.

"The labs were out of sequence with respect to the lecture material. Students just did not have the proper background for the labs," says Erik C. Chu '98, a Mather House resident who took Chemistry 17 last year, before the lab switch.

"Students complained that they had no idea what they were doing in the lab [in Chemistry 17] because they were only in their first semester of organic chemistry," says Davis. "I feel it is better to have the lab in the second half of the class [i.e. Chemistry 27] and to solidly learn the principles first."

The lab switch will also decrease the workload for Chem 17, which has long been regarded as one of the hardest science courses at Harvard. Last year, Chem 17 received a CUE Guide difficulty rating of 4.8 and a workload rating of 4.8.

"The lab change is good because Chemistry 17 is a much harder course than Chemistry 27, and this takes a lot of the workload out," Chu says.

The lab change also makes it easier for students to switch organic chemistry tracks midway.

"Now it will be easier to take then alternate paths of Chemistry 17 and then Chemistry 30, or Chemistry 20 and then Chemistry 27, because there will be no extra lab," Chu says.

Along with the lab switch, Chem 17 also boasts a new instructor this year, Claude Wintner, a visiting professor from Haverford College, with whom Davis says students are "delighted."

"He's really enthusiastic about the material and about teaching in general. He brings the subject down the level that we all understand and has managed to take away some of the fear of the organic chemistry," says Zarine R. Balsara '98, a Quincy House biochemical sciences concentrator.

Wintner, who is on sabbatical this year, was a visiting professor at Harvard during the 1984-85 school year, when the taught Chem 20 in the spring.

"The Chemistry Department here is marvelous!" Wintner says. After graduating from Princeton University, Wintner "saw the light" and came to the Harvard for his Ph.D. in organic chemistry, [which he received in 1963]. He then taught for five years at Yale University, before joining the Haverford faculty in 1969.

"This year's Chemistry 17 class is a lively, good class. They are all trying very hard," Wintner said. "I am pleased with the results of their first hourly exam."

'Substantial Revision'