Chemistry and Chemical Biology are committed to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education and outreach by a variety of programs, such as I-PERSIST Mentor Program, Rensselaer Chemistry Society (RCS) and Summer@Rensselaer Program. The I-PERSIST Mentor program at RPI is an initiative of the School of Science and the Division of Student Life and is sponsored by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Sustainability is based on a simple principle: everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations. Biomass offers the most readily implementable solution to access non-petroleum organic molecules for the manufacture of bulk, fine and specialty chemicals, polymers and transportation fuels.

Polymers, Materials and Energy research programs seek to understand how to design novel materials for discovery, development and structure/property optimization in clean and renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, sustainable technology and nanobiotechnology applications. Both natural and synthetic polymers and novel materials are exploited while using a wide range of experimental and computational methods.

Physical and Inorganic Chemistry research programs seek to understand physicochemical properties of substances from the atomic and molecular level to macroscopic scale. Faculty employ advanced spectroscopic, computational, synthetic, and characterization methods to address problems in solar energy conversion and artificial photosynthesis, nanomaterial self-assembly and medical imaging, non-linear optics, and chemical instrumentation, among others.