Research Opportunities in Chemistry
Research in the Chemistry Department explores questions at the frontiers of science, from fundamental discoveries to interdisciplinary challenges. Explore the active projects below to discover the range of work taking place in faculty labs, and feel free to contact individual faculty members to learn more about their research.
Faculty research runs year-round, with stipends and subsidized housing available for undergraduate students conducting on-campus research in the summer.
Biochemistry/Biophysics
O’Neil Lab: Linking the structure of protein aggregates to the cellular outcomes of neurodegenerative disease
Smith Lab: Dynamics of computationally designed and naturally occurring proteins
Taylor Lab: Enzyme mechanism and dynamics study, plus gene function assignment
Computational Chemistry
Calter Lab: Use of ab initio computational modeling to understand the mechanism for asymmetric induction with organocatalysts
Jimenez-Hoyos Lab: New electronic structure methods for quantum chemical problems
Northrop Lab: Use of ab initio computational modeling to understand the properties of π-conjugated molecules and mechanistic analysis of pericyclic reactions
Smith Lab: Protein molecular dynamics simulations and design, algorithm development
Taylor Lab: Virtual inhibitor screening and protein molecular dynamics simulations
Thayer Lab (Integrative Sciences): Molecular dynamics simulations, network analysis
Frisch Lab (Tishler Professor): Prediction of molecular structure, properties and reaction mechanisms
Drug Design
Calter Lab: Development of natural product analogs as anticancer, antiviral, and antifungal therapeutic agents
O’Neil Lab: In vitro and in vivo studies toward neurodegenerative and cancer therapeutics
Taylor Lab: In silico, in vitro and in vivo studies toward antibacterial drug discovery and development
Inorganic Chemistry
Westmoreland Lab: Development of MRI contrast agents, NMR properties of aqueous solutions of paramagnetic ions
Nanochemistry
Northrop Lab: Design and synthesis of discrete π-conjugated compounds for use in organic electronic and optoelectronic materials
Gonzalez-Pech Lab: Design, synthesis, and characterization of nanomaterials for environmental applications.
Organic Chemistry
Calter Lab: Organic molecules as asymmetric catalysts, synthesis of complex, biologically active natural products and their analogs
Chen Lab: Synthesis and characterization of organic chromophores
Elling Lab: Methods to synthesize functional polymers focusing on renewable feedstocks, material reprocessing, and polymer end of life
Northrop Lab: Design, synthesis, and analysis of π-conjugated molecules and pericyclic reactions
Taylor Lab: Transition-state and mechanism-based enzyme inhibitor design
Physical Chemistry
Chen Lab: Time-resolved spectroscopy on π-conjugated molecules
Jimenez-Hoyos Lab: Properties of strongly correlated molecules and excited states in molecular aggregates
Smith Lab: Protein nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), dynamics of fluorescent molecules
Westmoreland Lab: Fundamental aspects of coupled group/multielectron transfer reactions
Polymer Chemistry
Chen Lab: Use of systemically designed polymer scaffolds to study photophysical phenomena
Elling Lab: New methods to synthesize functional polymers with a focus on using renewable feedstocks, material reprocessing, and polymer end of life
Northrop Lab: Use of self-assembly and dynamic covalent chemistry to design and assemble host-guest systems and discrete macromolecular aggregates.