While students have the opportunity to do research in the traditional areas of biochemistry, analytical, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistries, they also have access to pursue interdisciplinary research that spans several of these sub-disciplines or goes beyond them. These interdisciplinary research topics encompass areas in medical, computer, and environmental science and allow students to interact with groups from diverse scientific areas in collaborations designed to solve complex, multi-faceted problems.
Research programs are consistently funded by national agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Specialization(s):
- Analytical Chemistry: This specialization researches novel optical methods of chemical analysis; white light spectrometry; and the analysis of large, nonvolatile molecules by mass spectrometry. Environmental chemistry is a major focus, with research projects directed toward the development and application of methods for the analysis of small particles in the atmosphere and the application of real-time mass spectrometry for aerosol analysis, and the detection of trace fluorocarbon substances in the atmosphere.
- Inorganic Chemistry: In this specialization, research is devoted to understanding how metal-catalyzed chemical processes occur, and how features associated with the metal center influence chemistry. In bioinorganic chemistry, approaches involve the synthesis of model complexes that are designed to mimic structural, spectroscopic, and reactivity features of metalloenzyme active sites. Comprehensive studies of these model complexes increase understanding of the chemical principles that control the structure and function of metalloenzymes.
- Organic Chemistry: This specialization focuses in the areas of physical organic chemistry and the synthesis of biologically active compounds. Mechanistic studies using novel kinetic techniques are questioning long-held assumptions about the details of some common chemical reactions. Other projects investigate the details of reactions at the chemistry-biology interface, including the chemistry of phosphate and sulfate esters. Other groups are working on the synthesis of novel unusual sugar-containing antibiotics or anticancer agents, and on studying the structural chemistry of naturally occurring compounds, in order to understand how structure affects stability, reactivity, and biological activity.
- Physical Chemistry: This specialization focuses on computational chemistry. Research at USU led to the first experimental and theoretical evidence of aromaticity in all-metal systems. Other projects utilize modern methods of electronic structure theory to understand the fundamental nature of interactions between molecules, chiefly hydrogen bonds, which are critical to structure and function of biomolecules like proteins. In addition, projects in theoretical chemical physics are directed to studying the dynamics of microscopic and mesoscopic systems (e.g., quantum dots) in the classical limit of quantum mechanics.