Research Opportunities in Chemistry

Colgate’s chemistry program is distinctive for undergraduates because they have an opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research directly with their professors.

Curricular Research

All chemistry and biochemistry majors conduct a full academic year of original research during their senior year. They do so in collaboration with one or more faculty members.

Typically, students join an ongoing research project with a faculty member in the department. Faculty research interests are outlined below on this page.

Summer Research

Each summer, a number of students remain on campus to conduct research in collaboration with chemistry department faculty members. Projects typically originate with the faculty — who may propose topics and seek student collaborators — or occasionally with students, who may propose projects to execute under the guidance of a supervising faculty member. The possibilities, therefore, are limitless.

Summer Research

Faculty Specialties

Students who wish to be involved in chemistry research at Colgate should contact one of the faculty members listed below to inquire about opportunities to contribute to their research. Professors may also be willing to advise and mentor a student with an independent research interest.

Specialties Faculty Member
Inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, homogeneous catalysis, reaction mechanisms

Anthony Chianese

Organic chemistry, molecular nanotechnology, studies of porphyrinoid synthetic methodology and porphyrinoid properties

Rick Geier

Chemical biology, bioinorganic chemistry, molecular biophysics; synthesis and application of chemical probes to study protein structure, function, and dynamics; metalloneurochemistry

Jacob Goldberg

Electrochemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, catalysis, driving chemical reactions using renewable electricity, material chemistry

Gongfang Hu
Application of density functional theory to projects involving electronic structure, spectroscopy, and mechanism

Jason Keith

Nano-spectroscopy and nano-imaging methods to understand molecular structure, intermolecular coupling, crystallinity, and dynamical processes in complex molecular systems

Eric Muller

Organic chemistry, glycobiology, NMR, constructing molecules that mimic aspects of biology for pharmaceutical development

Ernie Nolen

Biochemistry; chemical biology; genetic code expansion; selenoproteins; post-translational modifications Jenny Peeler
Air quality and climate, atmospheric chemistry, primary biological aerosol, black carbon aerosol, offline measurements of aerosol composition and immersion-mode ice nucleation

Anne Perring