showcase their research at professional conferences or national laboratories. Independent research grants from the college can range from $300 to over $200,000 for a three-year research program depending on donor or agency. The college's Harward Center is its main research entity for community-based research and offers fellowships to students. According to a 2001 study, Bates' economics department was the most cited liberal arts department in the United States.
Bates College has been the site of landmark experiments and academic movements. In chemistry, the college has played an important role in shaping ideas about inorganic chemistry and is considered the birthplace of inorganic photochemistry as its early manifestations were started at the college by 1943 alumnus George Hammond who was later dubbed "the father of the movement". Hammond would go on to invent Hammond's postulate, revolutionizing activation levels in chemical compounds. In physics, 1974 alumnus Steven Girvin credited his time at the college …
