Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rensselaer

The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Rensselaer has a long history of innovation in education and for excellence in laboratory instruction.

In addition to a strong focus in the traditional areas of chemistry we offer courses and research programs in the rapidly developing frontiers of modern science, including biochemistry, biophysics and biotechnology, materials and polymer chemistry, and medicinal chemistry.

 

  • Program Spotlight

    B.S. in Chemistry

    At the forefront of research while being small enough for students to receive individual attention from faculty.

  • Program Spotlight

    Ph.D in Chemistry

    Research projects in emerging fields of science and technology that lie at the intersection between chemistry and biotechnology, energy sciences, physics, biochemistry, computational methods, material science and nanotechnology.

  • A number of awards are given to outstanding undergraduates to recognize exceptional performance.

  • The undergraduate laboratory program emphasizes the hands-on use of modern research-grade instruments that allow students to become familiar with real-world equipment and tecniques used in research and industry.

  • Student researchers play a critical role in the world-changing discovery, innovation, and breakthroughs taking place across campus.

  • So you’re interested in chemistry?

    Perhaps you’re pretty sure that chemistry is the subject you want to major in, or, perhaps, it is just one of several possibilities.

    Perhaps you’re not sure what a chemist really does after college.

Announcements

The 6th annual Future Leaders Series meeting is coming up! This event is an opportunity for Ph.D. students expected to graduate in 2021 to present their work at our next local section meeting being held on Wednesday, January 20th, 2021 (6:00 – 9:00PM). Faculty are encouraged to nominate their Ph.D. students for consideration by Sunday, Jan, 10th, 2021. Selected speakers will be notified by Wed, January 13th, 2021.  We are looking for 3-4 speakers to present.

See Professor Shelley's interview in the Spectroscopist Inside section starting on page 42:  https://rpi.app.box.com/s/fcx7ubkqj7ainzfxuts8goniu522pnm8  

RPI Chemistry's student-athlete Mikaela DiBello has been named to the 2018-19 Goodle Cloud Academic All-America Division III At-Large Second Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).   https://rpiathletics.com/news/2019/6/20/field-hockey-dibello-and-maxfiel...  

Jessica Hellinger is recipient of a 2019 Society for Applied Spectroscopy Undergraduate Student Award.  This award recognizes her project to siimultaneously obtain elemental and small molecule information with a novel plasma source, the Solution Cathode Glow Discharge (SCGD), via optical emission spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.  This award will be presented at the SciX Conference in Palm Springs, CA, in October 2019.  

News

The grand opening of the Center for Engineering and Precision Medicine (CEPM), a partnership between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (Icahn Mount Sinai), was held March 29, 2023 at the Hudson Research Center (HRC) at 619 West 54th Street.

Steven Cramer, the William Weightman Walker Professor of Polymer Engineering and a professor in the Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering for “scientific and technological advances leading to new chromatographic materials, processes, and predictive tools for the purification of biopharmaceuticals.”

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will hold its 24th annual Black Families Technology Awareness Day on Saturday, February 4. The event, free and open to the public, is designed to introduce historically underrepresented students in grades K-12, their families, and educators to educational and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Catherine Royer will be honored as a 2023 Society Fellow of the Biophysical Society.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has named medical chemist Christopher L. Cioffi as its Thomas and Constance D’Ambra Professor of Medicinal Organic Chemistry. As a doctoral student in the laboratory of Mark Wentland at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Dr. Cioffi, B.S. ’94 and Ph.D. ’00, witnessed the birth of Samidorphan, a compound that is now part of the FDA-approved schizophrenia treatment Lybalvi.

Contact Information

Chemistry and Chemical Biology

120 Cogswell
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180

(518) 276-6456