Department of Chemistry Research

The educational programs offered through our Department of Chemistry combine an understanding of fundamental scientific principles with an intensive laboratory research experience. You’ll have many opportunities to engage in research that advances the boundaries of scientific knowledge. Whether an undergraduate or a graduate student in any of our programs, you’ll have the chance to work in close collaboration with a faculty research advisor on research projects. The results of these projects are advancing scientific knowledge and applications. Our faculty publish their work regularly with undergraduate and graduate student authors.

Student researchers:

• Gain valuable experience in laboratory techniques, how to carry out research, how to analyze data and how to report their results.
• Collaborate with faculty and classmates in classroom and in the lab.
• Work with commonly used instrumentation and techniques.
• Participate in discovery and innovation

Value of student research:

• Ideal preparation for them to continue their education in master’s and doctoral programs at Saint Joseph's University and elsewhere.
• Develop the skill set of a working scientist while still within the University training environment.
• Obtain the tools necessary to identify problems and create solutions that will help later in educational and professional careers.

The diverse faculty research interests available at the University present students with a wide variety of potential projects in all five of the major areas of chemistry, as well as in many less familiar areas of chemistry, such as computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry and proteomics. Additionally, the department encourages all undergraduates to present their research accomplishments at local and national professional meetings, as well as to publish their results in appropriate scientific journals.

For more about specific research projects and publications within the Department of Chemistry, see the University research site and departmental faculty pages.

Facilities

In addition to classrooms and laboratories on our Hawk Hill and University City campuses, students have access to:

• The Department Computer Cluster, a dedicated computer laboratory containing 16 PCs and two printers
• The West Center for Computational Chemistry & Drug Discovery, home to over 2,000 processors for complex computer applications
• Our NMR Spectrometer Laboratory, available for sophisticated molecular structure analysis
• The Chemistry Core Facility, shared resources offering cutting-edge technologies, high-end instrumentation, technical support, education and a wide range of services to the research community

Chemical Instrumentation

The department has a wide range of chemical instrumentation available for use by both undergraduate and graduate students in laboratory courses and in research projects, including:

• Multimode microplate readers rapidly monitor absorbance, fluorescence, and luminescence from chemical or biochemical samples.
• Super speed centrifuges are used to purify and concentrate biochemical samples.
• Imaging platforms are available for routine visualization and quantitation of biochemical and radioactive experiments.
• Calorimeters, including new state-of-the-art differential and isothermal microcalorimeters are used to determine the heat generated or absorbed during chemical and biological processes.
• Chromatography systems, including high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), and fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) systems are used to separate, purify and help to identify molecules.
• Powerful computer clusters are used for a variety of challenging molecular simulations.  Additionally, chemistry cluster computers with all necessary software are available for sophisticated data analysis and molecular modeling.
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometers (NMR) and Mass Spectrometers (MS) may be used separately, or in combination to identify molecules, and to determine their structure.
• Spectrophotometers are often used to determine the amount of a substance present in solution, or in a solid sample, by measurement of the absorption and fluorescence spectra of molecules in the ultraviolet, visible and/or infrared regions of the spectrum.
• Anaerobic chamber