With limited natural resources and a growing global population, new materials that lower our energy consumption, reduce the environmental footprint of energy production, and decrease energy costs are increasingly critical to balance the growing demand for consumer goods and fuels with a sustainable earth. In the Department of Chemistry, our faculty seek to design and understand the processes that consume and liberate energy, harness chemical potential to drive new reactions, develop new fuels, and exploit the power of sunlight. This research bridges chemistry, materials science, physics, and process engineering. Our faculty focuses on studying relationships between structure and function, organic and inorganic materials for energy harvesting and storage, transition metal and lanthanide catalysts, reaction mechanisms, and photochemistry to find solutions to globally relevant problems in energy and catalysis. A PhD degree in chemistry is your entry into the world of professional molecular problem solving. As a professional chemist or biochemist you will be expected to solve real world problems and have the opportunity to work on major societal issues, many of which are blur disciplinary lines. Lehigh Chemistry provides an approach to graduate education that trains students to be successful independent scientists in an increasingly interdisciplinary scientific world. Graduate students in the Department of Chemistry are engaged in research that ranges from exploring fundamental chemistry and biochemistry, to solving mission-based problems that are increasingly complex and transdisciplinary. The Department of Chemistry at Lehigh University provides a unique and exciting program of study for graduate students. Our program is designed to provide students with a broad background in chemistry while simultaneously offering opportunities to do cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research. Faculty research areas include the traditional areas of chemistry: Analytical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Biochemistry , Organic Chemistry, Computational Chemistry, Physical Chemistry. Our program is designed to provide students with a broad background in chemistry while simultaneously offering opportunities to explore cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research problems. Research opportunities are available in areas such as materials chemistry, biological chemistry, surface chemistry and nanoscience and technology, along with traditional disciplines of analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.
