Welcome from the Chair!

Greetings from the Department of Chemistry! As chair, I welcome you to our website and hope that you find perusing its contents both interesting and informative.  From its earliest days in 1850 until the present day, the study of chemistry at Rochester has continued to prosper and grow, providing outstanding opportunities for undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral associates and faculty to undertake and accomplish significant research, and engage in excellent educational programs leading to the B.S. and B.A. degrees in chemistry and Ph.D. studies in chemistry and allied fields.

The expertise of 31 faculty associated with our department span virtually all areas of modern chemical research and related fields.  Our department is organized according to the research cluster model which emphasizes interdisciplinary research, uniquely available at a relatively small research university such as UR.  The current clusters are focused on biological chemistry, synthesis and catalysis, materials chemistry, chemical physics and spectroscopy and are comprised of faculty from all the traditional subdisciplines of organic, inorganic and physical chemistry including nuclear science.

Two new young faculty, Daniel Weix and Rudi Fasan joined our faculty in July 2008 and we anticipate additional appointments of new faculty in the future.  Our faculty continues to grow in stature and have been the recipients of more than 40 national and University awards for research and teaching in the last five years, including four major awards from the American Chemical Society.

Currently 95 graduate students are enrolled in our Ph.D. program with an average of 22-25 new students matriculating every year. The quality of our program was recognized this year by the U.S. Department of Education with the award of a GAANN (Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need) grant for graduate fellowships.  Our total research effort is further augmented by thirty-five senior research scientists and postdoctoral fellows from top universities all over the world with the total number of research personnel in the Department now exceeding 150 researchers.

I am pleased to say that our research infrastructure ranks with the very best in the nation. Our major instrumentation includes high field NMR spectrometers, GC and electrospray MS capability, single molecule/confocal Raman and fluorescence instrumentation, ultrafast laser systems, and an automated X-ray diffractometer equipped with area detectors.

After reviewing our website, I hope you will agree with me that the tradition of excellence in chemistry research and education is thriving at Rochester.  We strive to attract the best and brightest scholars while maintaining a supportive, collegial and friendly community, one of the defining characteristics of the Department of Chemistry and the University of Rochester.  I hope that you will enjoy exploring our department by virtual tour and hope to see you in Rochester!

Sincerely,
Robert K. Boeckman, Jr