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.
At the forefront of research while being small enough for students to receive individual attention from faculty.
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.
Members of the campus community should note that, beginning Tuesday, January 2, 2024, Cogswell Stockroom will be conducting business hours as follows: Monday: 9:00AM - Noon Tuesday - Thursday: 10:00AM - Noon and 1:00PM - 5:30PM Friday: 1:00PM - 3:30PM
Jacob Shelley earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, AZ in 2005, and completed his Ph. D. at Indiana University under Prof. Gary Hieftje in 2011.
Fund for Undergraduate Summer Research established in memory of Professor James V. Crivello in recognition of his many years of service at both General Electric and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Chunyu Wang, M.D., Ph.D., professor of biological sciences and chemistry and chemical biology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has been awarded a five-year grant of more than $3.7 million by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging to study Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) isoform interactions with heparan sulfate (HS) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
Brianna Casey ’26 is one of 40 undergraduate students nationwide to be selected for NASA’s Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-Generation Scientists) internship program. The program supports the Europa Clipper mission, with the goal of determining whether Jupiter’s moon, Europa, has “conditions suitable to support life.” Scientists predict that an ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy shell, so massive that it is bigger than all of Earth’s oceans combined.
Brianna Casey ’26 is one of 40 undergraduate students nationwide to be selected for NASA’s Europa ICONS (Inspiring Clipper: Opportunities for Next-Generation Scientists) internship program. The program supports the Europa Clipper mission, with the goal of determining whether Jupiter’s moon, Europa, has “conditions suitable to support life.” Scientists predict that an ocean lies beneath Europa’s icy shell, so massive that it is bigger than all of Earth’s oceans combined.
120 Cogswell
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180
(518) 276-6456
