Chemistry Program Research

Students pursuing BA/BS/MS or Minor in Chemistry should contact Chemistry faculty to discuss expectations and possible projects.

Information for Graduate Students

For graduate students, we highly recommend taking Research Project I and Seminar (CHEM 6837) in the very first semester of the graduate school and Research Project II and Seminar (CHEM 6838) in the second semester.

Research Assistant Positions

Learn how to apply for a paid Research Assistant position.

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Our Faculty

Our faculty are engaged in research that spans over a broad number of chemistry areas: organic synthesis and methodology development, inorganic chemistry, bioanalytical chemistry, theoretical chemistry, materials chemistry, environmental chemistry, among other areas.

Dr. Jack Lu
An inorganic chemist with research interests in the area of metal-organic functional materials (MOFMs).

Dr. Yi Su
A physical chemist whose research interests focus on environmental chemistry, including application of optical sensing technology for environmental monitoring and remediation. His research project focuses on removal of environmental contaminants.

Dr. Daniel Wang
A physical organic chemist whose research interests include computational chemistry, material science, and development of organic synthesis methodology for novel heterocycles and nucleoside analogs.

Dr. Alexandra MacDermott
Work is aimed at elucidating the origin of enantiomeric bias in nature. To that end, a large part of her efforts are currently directed towards ab initio calculations of molecular parity violating effects. She is also pursuing research aimed at using chirality as the signature of life in the universe.

Dr. Charuksha Walgama
A bioanalytical chemist, and his research focuses on immobilizing biomolecules onto electrochemical platforms for sensing and catalytic applications and developing inexpensive lab-on-a-chip type platforms for bio-medical applications. 

Dr. Chunlong Zhang 
An environmental chemist with research interests in (1) contaminant fate and transport and (2) development of remediation technologies for contaminated soil and groundwater.