Chemistry (Graduate Program)

For information regarding the UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM, click here. 

Program Overview

The Department of Chemistry includes 27 research faculty, approximately 150 graduate students, and 25 support staff members. Research opportunities are offered in analytical, biological, computational, environmental, inorganic, macromolecular, materials, organic, and physical chemistry. The PhD program promotes independent study and research. Extensive collaboration with local industrial research laboratories enriches the educational experience and enhances postgraduate job opportunities.

Administration

Admission

Applications and supporting materials for all graduate study must be submitted through the online application site for the LSU Graduate School: www.lsu.edu/gradapply. Official transcripts, official test scores, and other materials that come from third-party sources must be mailed to: Graduate Student Services, 114 West David Boyd Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803.

Successful applicants must meet the requirements for admission to the Graduate School and must also demonstrate a strong background and interest in chemistry. A detailed description of admission procedures and general regulations may be obtained from the departmental website.

Financial Assistance

Fellowships, teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and enrichments are available to qualified PhD students on a competitive basis. Four-year Board of Regents Graduate Fellowships and Economic Development Assistantships (EDA) are available for superior students; these range from $25,000 to $30,000 per year. Teaching assistants instruct undergraduate laboratories and spend about 20 hours per week performing these and other teaching duties. Research assistantships are available to advanced students through grants obtained by individual faculty members. The average graduate assistantship salary is approx. $22,500 per year.

Facilities

• LSU Libraries provides extensive chemistry resources in print and electronic format. Print resources are integrated with the sciences collection in the main library while most electronic resources are made available to faculty, staff, and students at their desktops and/or through extensive campus computer labs, wireless networks, and off-campus access. Among the electronic resources offered are SciFinder and Web of Science.
• Departmental researchers have access to LSU’s unique synchrotron light source at the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD). Beamlines are dedicated to experiments in the far ultraviolet and x-ray electromagnetic spectral regions.
• Six available solution and solid state NMR spectrometers operated and maintained by two skilled staff PhD scientists, range from 250 MHz to a new cold-probe 700 MHz instrument.
• Four ultrafast laser systems located in the department include a Ti-sapphire amplified femtosecond laser system; a picosecond NdYAG regenerative amplified laser system for Raman and transient infrared spectroscopy; an Ar-ion pumped femtosecond Ti sapphire laser system; and a modelocked NdYAG sync-pumped dye laser system.
• The Structure Analysis Laboratory houses two modern computer-controlled single crystal x-ray diffractometers (Bruker-Nonius Kappa CCD and a new Bruker Kappa Apex II system) operated by a professional service crystallographer. Dedicated computers control all aspects of data collection, data analysis, graphics presentation, and publishing. Cryogenic facilities provide for routine low-temperature structure determination. A computercontrolled powder diffractometer is also available.
• The Polymer Analysis Laboratory provides advanced equipment for characterization of macromolecules, supramolecular assemblies, colloids, complex fluids, and related materials. Included are three custom-built static and dynamic laser light scattering systems; three additional light scattering and on-line viscometry systems, each coupled to a separate gel permeation chromatograph or asymmetric field flow fractionation chromatograph configurable for either aqueous or organic solvents; zeta potential analyzer and particle sizer; differential scanning calorimetry; thermogravimetric analysis; thermodielectric spectroscopy; dynamic mechanical spectroscopy; constant stress rheometer; small angle x-ray scattering; two surface pressure balances; analytical ultracentrifugation and precision densitometry; fluorescence and polarization microscopes; and scanning probe microscopy. Additional equipment is available through Louisiana’s Applied Polymer Technology Extension Consortium.
• The Mass Spectrometry Facility offers a broad range of services with six mass spectrometers, including: a Varian Saturn 2200 GC/MS for GC separations and electron ionization (EI) or chemical ionization (CI); a Bruker Omniflex MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer for mass analysis of synthetic and biopolymers as well as mid-mass organics; an Applied Biosystems QSTAR XL nano-LC-quadrupole/time-of-light mass spectrometer for high resolution MALDI, electrospray, and APCI for proteomics work and exact mass measurements; an Agilent high resolution TOF electrospray system; and a new Bruker Ultraflex Extreme optimized for protein sequencing and tissue imaging. The GC/MSs and MALDI-TOF MS are open-access instruments. Two expert PhD mass spectrometrists staff the facility.
• Molecular modeling and graphics capabilities are provided by software packages such as SYBYL, Spartan, and Gaussian 09, which run on workstations and personal/laptop computers. LSU also owns site licenses to ChemDraw, Hyperchem, and the complete Cambridge Structural Database.
• A high-speed Ethernet LAN links all office, laboratory, and departmental computing facilities and is, in turn, connected to the main campus optic fiber. This series of networks provides access to all local mainframe and supercomputer facilities. Wireless network access is available throughout Choppin Hall.
• LSU has outstanding computational facilities ranging up to the 15.3 TFlops Tezpur. The Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) also offers access to a number of other supercomputer systems distributed across the state. Visit www.hpc.lsu.edu for details about high performance computing at LSU or www.loni.org to learn more about Louisiana’s Optical Network Initiative.
• Other maintenance and support facilities include a full-time computer programmer who assists students and faculty with mainframe and personal computer problems; a multimedia/communications studio; a modern electronics shop; and a fully equipped and staffed machine shop.

Graduate Faculty

(check current listings by department by clicking this link)

Leslie G. Butler (M) • Solid state NMR and 3-D tomography studies for materials science
Frank K. Cartledge (EM) • Environmental chemistry and hazardous waste
Bin Chen (M) • Nucleation and biomimetic material design, structure-property relationships in materials
Robert L. Cook (M) • Environmental chemistry using advanced NMR techniques
William E. Crowe (7M) • Organic and organo-metallic chemistry using transition metal catalysts
William H. Daly (EM) • Polymeric materials based on polysaccharides
Barry Dellinger (M) • Environmental aspects of combustion
Randy Duran (M) • Macromolecular chemistry; surface chemistry of amphiphilic materials
Jayne C. Garno (M) • Analytical chemistry, scanning probe microscopy, nanofabrication, biosensing
S. Douglass Gilman (M) • Bioanalytical chemistry, microfluidics
Louis Haber (6A) • Physical chemistry of plasmonic nanoparticles.
Brian J. Hales (EM) • Biophysical
Randall W. Hall (EM)
Rendy Kartika (6A) • Organic chemistry; synthesis and natural products
Neil R. Kestner (EM) • Theoretical chemistry; chemical education
Revati Kumar (6A) • Theoretical chemistry, computational chemistry
Daniel Kuroda (6A) • Physical chemistry, two-dimensional infrared laser spectroscopy
Kenneth A. Lopata (6A) • Physical chemistry, time-domain quantum chemistry simulations
Megan A. Macnaughtan (6A) • Biophysical chemistry of proteins, NMR spectroscopy, bioanalytical chemistry
Luigi G. Marzilli (M) • Bioinorganic chemistry, inorganic medicinal chemistry
Andrew W. Maverick (M) • Nanoporous transition metal complexes, vapor deposition
Robin L. McCarley (M) • Scanning tunneling microscopy, molecular films
Sean P. McGlynn (EM)
Kermit K. Murray (M) • Biological and environmental mass spectrometry
Evgueni E. Nesterov (M) • Functional organic materials and molecular devices, physical-organic chemistry, photochemistry
John A. Pojman (M) • Macromolecular chemistry, kinetics, physical chemistry of polymerization
Erwin D. Poliakoff (EM) • Photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray spectroscopy of nanoscale materials
William A. Pryor (EM)
Justin R. Ragains (6A) • Organic synthesis applied to biofunctional molecules
James W. Robinson (EM)
Paul S. Russo (EM)
Kevin M. Smith (M) • Total synthesis of complex unsymmetrical porphyrin systems
Steven A. Soper (EM)
David A. Spivak (M) • Organic and bioorganic network polymers, engineered organic solids, biopolymer engineering
George G. Stanley (M) • Bimetallic cooperativity in homogeneous catalysis, hydroformylation, molecular modeling
Carol M. Taylor (M) • Organic synthesis and bioorganic chemistry with a focus on post-translationally modified peptides
M. Graça H. Vicente (M) • Fluorescent porphyrin-based macrocycles for medicine
Isiah M. Warner (M) • Optical spectroscopies, biochemical and environmental analysis
Steve Watkins (EM)
Donghui Zhang (6A) • Design and synthesis of functional materials

Programs

• Chemistry, Ph.D.

• Chemistry, M.S.