Undergraduate Research

The Department of Chemistry has a number of undergraduate research opportunities available. These hands-on experiences range from theoretical and experimental physical chemistry, to materials and organic synthesis and discovery of new biochemistry in cells and drugs.

A number of students work on long-term projects, including senior theses, honors theses or capstone projects. Chemistry, biochemistry, biology and engineering majors participate in research in the chemistry department.

Our undergraduate researchers have been exceptionally successful over the past few years, with many being awarded NSF Graduate Fellowships, Amgen Fellowships, Beckman Fellowships, Astronaut Fellowships, and NSF REU and iREU fellowships.

Many of our alumni have presented their research at national conferences, like the American Chemical Society (ACS) or are co-authors on prestigious peer-reviewed publications. Many of our researchers go on to work in a wide variety of fields in industry, academia and medicine.

Graduate Research

The Department of Chemistry has more than 60 Ph.D. students researching a wide range of topics.  From recombinant protein expression and cellular imaging, to organometallic synthesis and catalysis, to materials design and terahertz spectroscopy, the department can suit a wide range of student interests.  

Our graduate students have been exceptionally successful over the past few years, including being featured in high-impact peer-reviewed publications, being awarded grants and presenting at conferences. Many of our Ph.D. alumni are now faculty or postdoctoral fellows at universities and colleges or have positions in industry and government. 

Research Areas

Biological Chemistry

Research in biological chemistry at Syracuse University focuses on problems ranging across a broad spectrum of the life sciences. Faculty and students work in these exciting areas of biochemistry: bioorganic, bioinorganic, and biophysical chemistry. Additionally there is emerging research happening in biophysical, biomaterials, biosensors, and medicinal chemistry, where students have the opportunity to research pharmaceutical agents and create biosensors, new biomaterials and more.

Inorganic Chemistry

The inorganic chemistry area in our department is exceptionally strong with six faculty members having their main research interests in this field, covering crystallography, materials, catalysis, organometallics, nanotechnology, coordination chemistry, and more.

Organic Chemistry

Ongoing research in organic chemistry includes all aspects of synthetic and mechanistic organic chemistry, as well as strong interdisciplinary efforts at the interface of biological, physical, and inorganic chemistry. Our faculty's research explores natural products, synthetic methodologies, asymmetric catalysis, organometallics, physical organic, and materials.

Physical Chemistry

Research in physical chemistry focuses on the quantitive relationships between measurements of static and dynamic physical and chemical properties of matter while also theorizing the microscopic nature of matter. Physical chemistry research examines chemical, computational, theoretical, spectroscopy, environmental and kinetics.