Department of Chemistry and Physics at University of South Carolina - Aiken. The Department of Chemistry and Physics strives to offer curricula of high academic quality, to foster an environment supportive of scholarly activity, to provide service courses for the general education of undergraduate students, and to serve as a resource for the community. To this end, the department offers a B.S. Degree with a major in Chemistry, a minor in Chemistry, and courses that may be used to satisfy the chemistry and physics requirements that are stipulated by other degrees, or to satisfy the General Education Requirements in science.