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Graduate Program in Chemistry

At the forefront of curiosity-inspired research, innovation and education

Graduate Program in Chemistry

At the forefront of curiosity-inspired research, innovation and education

A student working in a chemistry lab under the supervision of May Nyman

Our internationally renowned chemistry graduate program represents the full spectrum of the discipline encompassing fundamental and applied research through which graduate students gain an unparalleled education. The thriving graduate program, comprising M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, includes over 100 graduate students from all around the world. They conduct research alongside 19 world-class faculty in the areas of materials, physical, computational, nuclear, analytical, inorganic, organic, and bioorganic chemistry.

Chemistry faculty are at the forefront of research on health care, environmental sustainability, and energy efficient technologies. Graduate students are mentored in conducting highly interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research in the development of novel diagnostic tools to understand disease at the molecular level and in the design of environmentally friendly technologies and chemical processes among other research areas. Our graduate students have access to state-of-the-art laboratory technology and instrumentation. They are supported through research and teaching assistantships as well as competitive departmental and external fellowships.

The Chemistry graduate program integrates professional development within its curriculum giving students the opportunity to translate collaborative research breakthroughs into commercial use through startups, licensing, and unique university-industry partnerships. Our graduate students have an excellent track record of getting highly satisfying jobs in leading R&D firms, tech companies, national labs, research institutes, industry and academia.

Steve Sloop in front of brick building

“I learned a way of thinking about materials at OSU Chemistry and I have applied that knowledge to battery recycling. It was basic creative chemistry where one learns about synthesizing nanocomposite materials and keeping base structures intact during experiments.”

Steven Sloop (Chemistry Ph.D. ’96), Founder and CEO of OnTo Technology, a research and development company in Bend, Oregon, devoted to innovations in recycling batteries.

Meet our students and alumni

Chemistry student picked for DOE research program

A Ph.D. candidate in the OSU College of Science has been selected for the Department of Energy’s Office of Science Graduate Student Research program.

Chemist makes key advance toward production of important biofuel

An international research collaboration, led by Kyriakos Stylianou, an assistant professor of chemistry at Oregon State University, has taken an important step toward the commercially viable manufacture of biobutanol, an alcohol whose strong potential as a fuel for gasoline-powered engines could pave the path away from fossil fuels. The researchers are now looking to partner with industry to try to scale up the separation method using the new metal organic framework, says Stylianou, the study’s corresponding author. If it scales well, it could be an important milestone on the road toward non-reliance on fossil fuels.

Grants to boost advances in mental health and cancer research

The College of Science awarded two interdisciplinary teams funding to pursue promising leads in mental health and cancer research. One team will investigate the role of the gut-brain axis on sex differences in anxiety, and another will explore ways to develop an synthetic version of HHT-- a rare plant alkaloid that is showing great promise in the development of new medicines for multiple forms of cancer.

Chemistry Ph.D. student wins prestigious GEM Science Fellowship

Chemistry Ph.D. student Ana Arteaga was one of three graduate students at OSU to receive a prestigious GEM Fellowship in 2019.