Overview
The UCI Department of Chemistry offers a traditional Chemistry foundation blended with research experience in emerging fields. Areas of specialization include:
- Analytical Chemistry
- Atmospheric Chemistry
- Chemical Biology
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Materials Chemistry
- Nuclear Materials Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Physical Chemistry
- Theoretical Chemistry
Students primarily enroll into the Ph.D. program and are awarded a M.S. degree when they have completed the necessary requirements. The Ph.D. is granted in recognition of breadth and depth of knowledge of the facts and theories of modern chemistry and an ability to carry out independent chemical research. Chemistry Ph.D. students are competitive for top-level academic and industrial research positions, as well as many other career pathways.
Chemical and Materials Physics (ChaMP) is an interdisciplinary program between condensed matter physics and physical chemistry, which is designed to eliminate the barrier between these two disciplines. The goal of the concentration in is to provide students with a broad interdisciplinary education in the applied physical sciences that emphasizes modern laboratory and computational skills.
What Sets Us Apart?
The UCI Department of Chemistry is ranked 15th nationwide by Academic Analytics, which is based on the overall quality of the research program and faculty productivity. Our rich department history includes Nobel Laureate F. Sherwood Rowland, and amongst our current faculty are three National Academy of Science members, eight Beckman Young Investigator awardees, twenty-three Sloan Foundation Fellows, thirteen Dreyfus Teacher-Scholars, and eighteen NSF CAREER awardees.
UCI Chemistry Faculty members receive about $10M in new extramural research funding each year, with total funding on the order of $20M at any given time. The UCI Department of Chemistry is also home to one of nine NSF Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) programs: Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit (CaSTL). Steady resources have enabled the Chemistry Department to maintain and expand state-of-the-art instrumentation user facilities, including a laser spectroscopy facility, a mass spectroscopy facility, an X-ray crystallography facility, an NMR facility, a molecular modeling facility, and a nuclear reactor, all of which are staffed by Ph.D. specialists. These facilities are accessible to graduate researchers, some on a 24/7 open access basis.
Home to more than 250 chemistry graduate students, the UCI Department of Chemistry offers a rich and dynamic research environment with an abundance of opportunity for collaboration. Students enjoy the benefits that a large, vibrant research community brings, while still receiving plenty of specialized and individual attention. Faculty mentors and area advisors meet with students regularly to discuss research, plan coursework, and make sure students are making progress towards their degrees. In the past five years, over thirty chemistry graduate students at UCI have been awarded the prestigious NSF GRFP, another indicator of the quality of student research and individual faculty mentoring.