To the young scientist just embarking on an independent career, the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign offers a wide range of programs. From single disciplinary to multi-disciplinary, you will find innovative and exciting research options in chemical biology and in analytical, inorganic, materials, organic, physical and theoretical chemistry. Faculty and students in our laboratories benefit from our close relationships with other departments on campus, collaborating with other researchers in Biochemistry, Materials Science, Physics, and Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, as well as the Beckman Institute, the Materials Research Laboratory, and the Institute for Genomic Biology. The Department of Chemistry has served as a focal point for inter-disciplinary research on campus for more than 100 years.
Discover a catalyst or anti-cancer drug, develop new kinds of materials or instrumental techniques, or study the behavior of matter at any length scale from small molecules to large proteins and entire cells. These are just a few of the opportunities available at Illinois where we have a tradition of innovative thinking since 1868.
Research Areas
- Analytical Chemistry
- Chemical Biology
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Materials Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Physical Chemistry
The American Chemical Society, in a review of various programs, has called the School of Chemical Sciences at Illinois "a major force in chemical education" in the U.S., and national rankings of chemistry departments nationwide consistently put Illinois near the top among a select group. As a graduate student at Illinois you will experience the thrill of working on the most challenging problems in the molecular sciences.
Learn more about how to become a graduate student in Chemistry at Illinois.