Friedrich Woehler was a German chemist who was the first to synthesise an organic compound from an inorganic precursor – a feat once thought to be impossible. One of his students, Charles A. Goessmann, carried out pioneering research into the chemistry of crops and agricultural soils, and was responsible for the passage of one of the first laws requiring accurate fertiliser labelling. He also founded the Department of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where you too can follow in their footsteps.
“At UMass Chemistry, we train graduate students to transcend traditional siloes of chemistry and incorporate an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to solve impactful problems,” says Professor Dhandapani Venkataraman. “As a result, our students are trained to foster a holistic approach, seek the expertise they need, and adopt a team-based approach to solve research problems.”
More than 150 years after its establishment, the department is now ranked among the top 40 in the US. This is reflected in its PhD programme, where a cohort of roughly 150 students work across 22 research groups to tackle some of the most pressing challenges facing society, and spanning topics such as the chemistry of life systems, materials for sustainability, and the modelling of complex systems.
Here, you begin with three one-month-long rotations in laboratories of your choosing. This gives you the opportunity to not only interact and work alongside other student researchers in that lab but also experience the range of research in depth. “The science is collaborative not just between chemistry laboratories but across the entire campus,” says student Elizabeth Cote. “The faculty and students are happy to train you and provide guidance to help you understand and progress your research.”
As the largest chemistry program in New England, UMass receives over US$10 million annually in research funding to provide you with the best equipment, tools, and facilities, including the ongoing development of computer-aided learning environments to enhance your training.
“UMass has a reputation for investing heavily into highly creative research, supporting faculty, postdocs, and students in tackling grand challenges across chemistry,” says Assistant Professor James Walsh. “Our department truly embodies the spirit of chemistry as the central science, with extensive collaboration throughout the department and across campus.”
The PhD in Chemistry is one of the largest PhD programs on campus. Source: University of Massachusetts Amherst
This collaboration – much of which is done through NIH-funded training grants – elevates your UMass experience. Take the , for example. Here, students from a variety of departments, with chemical and biological sciences backgrounds, work together to leverage chemistry’s synthetic, mechanistic, and analytical aspects to explore new and exciting areas of biology. The faculty who will guide you through your research are experts in structural biology, molecular recognition, signal transduction, and more.
Another is the NIH-funded (BTP), where engineering and life sciences intersect. Students in this program all do biotech-related research in their own laboratories, including developing mRNA delivery vehicles, theraputics for viral diseases, and organoids for studying neurodegeneration. In addition, students interact frequently with industrial experts who participate in the core course and lead an annual Biotech Battles competition to solve real biotech problems with industrial coaches. This program equips you to land a role in biotechnology research – 95% of BTP students who obtained their PhD now work in Biotech and Pharmaceutical Industries or in academia.
“This is the most collaborative department I have worked in throughout my career,” says Professor Vincent Rotello. “The high degree of collegiality allows our students to benefit from the full expertise of our diverse faculty, developing unique skill sets they wouldn’t get anywhere else.”
In this department, students love working with their peers and professors. From the annual departmental ResearchFest, where graduate students present their research to get feedback, to real-world experiences through interning in the industry or working in national labs, students are given many opportunities to successfully contribute new knowledge to this field. “In just my first two years, I have had the opportunity to attend conferences, travel for research at national laboratories, as well as getting trained to use many of the core facilities on campus,” says Cote.
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