From bottom left to bottom right: Panduka Piyaratne, Anthony Rappé, Terry Gray, Joe Zadrozny, Yuyang Dong, Jean Chung, Eugene Chen, Alan Kennan, Matthew Shores, Amy Prieto, Richard Finke, and Chris Ackerson.

Chemistry Faculty Members

Chris Ackerson / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-0521
Office: Chemistry

Nanoparticle structure, nanoparticle chemistry, novel nanoparticle synthesis strategies, applications of nanoparticles to biological imaging.

Travis Bailey / Associate Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Phone: (970) 491-4648
Office: Scott Bioengineering Building 322

His research interests at Colorado State will focus on the thermodynamics of nanoscale self-assembly processes in block copolymer composite materials and their applications in a variety of environments, including polymer-based photovoltaics, bio-enzymatic fuel cells, chemical and biological sensing devices, targeted chemical delivery, and hydrogel-based shape memory materials.

Jeff Bandar / Assistant Professor
Phone: (970) 495-2432
Office: Chemistry Research 315

The design and study of new catalysts and catalytic processes with applications for pharmaceutical, natural product and industrial chemical synthesis.

Thomas Borch / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-6235
Office: Plant Sciences C017

Our research is focused on addressing environmental problems from a local to global scale. We develop and apply advanced spectrometry (e.g., FT-ICR MS), microscopy, and spectroscopy (e.g., XAS) techniques to characterize complex environmental systems. Our research is interdisciplinary and includes a big team of scientists and engineers.

Eugene Chen / University Distinguished Professor, John K. Stille Endowed Chair in Chemistry
Phone: (970) 491-5609
Office: Chemistry Research 217

Polymer Science, Sustainable Chemistry, and Homogeneous Catalysis: Intrinsically recyclable & bio-derived sustainable polymers; chemical synthesis of biodegradable microbial plastics; precision (living and stereoselective & chemoselective) polymer synthesis; Lewis pair polymerization methodology for compounded sequence control; metal-catalyzed coordination polymerization for chiral polymers; organocatalysis for biomass conversion to fuels, chemicals & materials.

Jean Chung / Assistant Professor
Phone: (970) 491-6842
Office: Chemistry C117

Molecular biophysics; reaction kinetics on membrane surfaces; single-molecule imaging; time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy.

Debbie Crans / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-7635
Office: Chemistry C301

Bioinorganic, Bioorganic, Physical Organic Chemistries, with focuses on characterization of menaquinone metabolism and ihibition of electron transport in tuberculosis bacteria, vanadium containing anti-diabetic and anti-malarial compounds, microemulsion drug-membrane interaction studies, copper (II) amyloid-beta and peptide complexation studies, and spectroscopic techniques including 1D and 2D NMR, EPR, fluorescence and IR.

Yuyang Dong / Assistant Professor
Phone: (970) 491-2205
Office: Chemistry C325A

Organometallic Chemistry, Catalysis, Inorganic Chemistry: The design of new asymmetric catalytic reactions from an electronic structure perspective; Mechanistic investigation of organic transformations catalyzed by open-shell first-row transition metal complexes; Isolation and characterization of reactive organometallic species for small-molecule activation.

Delphine Farmer / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-0624
Office: Chemistry C215

Indoor and outdoor atmospheric chemistry; Instrument development & high resolution mass spectrometry; Field and laboratory measurements of reactive trace gases and particles and their interactions with the biosphere

Richard Finke / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-2541
Office: Chemistry C213

Chemical catalysis, nanoparticle research, energy research and kinetics and mechanism

Chuck Henry / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-2852
Office: Chemistry Research 415

Bioanalytical chemistry; environmental chemistry; chemical separations; microscale chemical instrumentation; capillary electrophoresis; biosensor development; paper-based analytical devices; microfluidics

Megan Hill / Assistant Professor

Organic Chemistry: research leverages organic chemistry to design advanced polymeric materials for applications in sustainability, catalysis, and soft materials. Focus on recyclable soft materials, de novo polymer-based catalyst design, and improving the degradability of radically-derived polymers

Alan Kennan / Associate Professor, Associate Chair
Phone: (970) 491-6046
Office: Chemistry Research 417

Molecular recognition, self-assembly, development of novel biological recognition motifs, construction of synthetic receptors for small molecules of biological interest, design of catalytic peptides.

Seonah Kim / Associate Professor
Office: Chemistry C312

Develop computational catalyst design and apply computational tools to both enzymatic and catalytic conversion processes of sustainable chemicals and polymers from plants (biomass) for a new bio-energy infrastructure. Mechanism-driven discovery of biopolymer upgrading and material design via molecular and quantum mechanics. Machine learning approach in catalyst design, and (bio)fuel and chemical property prediction tool kit development.

Amber Krummel / Associate Professor, Associate Chair
Phone: (970) 491-3694
Office: Chemistry C107

Structure & dynamics in condensed phase systems; two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy.

Nancy Levinger / Professor and University Distinguished Teaching Scholar
Phone: (970) 491-1331
Office: Chemistry C205

Dynamics of molecules and chemistry in the condensed phase, especially molecular assemblies, molecules in confined environments. Fundamental properties and processes governing cryopreservation.

Andy McNally / Associate Professor, Albert I. Meyers Chair in Chemistry
Phone: (970) 491-6782
Office: 317

Synthetic chemistry, new reaction development, heterocyclic chemistry, organophosphorus chemistry, dearomatized intermediates, catalytic reactions

Carmen Menoni / University Distinguished Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
Phone: (970) 491-8659
Office: Engineering ERC B325

Prof. Menoni’s research bridges from material to optical sciences. She is engaged in the growth and characterization of high bandgap oxide materials for the engineering of interference coatings for high power lasers. She is also actively involved in using bright coherent beams of light of wavelengths between 10-50 nm for optics applications such as imaging and ablation.

Garret Miyake / Professor
Phone: (970) 495-4340
Office: Chemistry Research 215

organic chemistry, catalysis, polymer science

Jamie Neilson / Associate Professor
Phone: (970) 491-2958
Office: Chemistry C229C

New materials and methodologies involving solid-state and solution-phase reactions, particularly those involving kinetic control. We study structure/property relationships of materials (e.g., magnetism, electrical transport) using advanced synchrotron X-ray and time-of-flight neutron scattering and spectroscopic methods.

Robert Paton / Professor | Fixman and Ladanyi Professorship in Chemistry
Office: Chemistry C311

The Paton group uses computational and data-driven approaches to make synthetic chemistry more predictable. We develop tools to predict molecular properties, design new functional molecules and optimize synthetic routes. Our approach combines quantum mechanical calculations, physical organic chemistry and machine learning.

Amy Prieto / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-1592
Office: Chemistry C311

Electrochemical synthesis of inorganic bulk and nanoscale materials, low-temperature solid-state chemistry, nanomaterials.

Anthony Rappe / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-6292
Office: Chemistry C310

Theoretical characterization of reaction mechanisms in homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, new electronic structure techniques, development of force fields or model potentials for chemical reactivity studies.

A. R. Ravi Ravishankara / University Distinguished Professor
Phone: (970) 491-2876
Office: Chemistry C201

Atmospheric chemistry via studies in gas phase kinetics and photochemistry, heterogeneous chemistry, atmospheric field observations, and analyses of modeling results; Furthering understanding of the earth’s atmosphere, diagnosing, understanding of, and providing solutions to environmental issues of the stratospheric ozone depletion, air quality, and climate change; Provide new insights into gas phase chemical reactions, reactions on surfaces and in liquids, and photochemical processes; Developing new experimental methods both for laboratory studies and atmospheric measurements.

Melissa Reynolds / Professor, Research Associate Dean
Phone: (970) 491-3775

Multidisciplinary chemical design and fabrication of biomimetic materials for use in medical device applications. Research work includes: synthesis of organic and inorganic compounds including small-molecule therapeutics, polymers, and extended frameworks; analytical studies utilizing fluorescence, chemiluminesence, zeta potential, and LC/MS-TOF; fabrication and engineering of materials; biomedical efficacy and toxicity studies.

Justin Sambur / Associate Professor
Phone: (970) 491-3096
Office: Chemistry C229D

The Sambur group synthesizes nanomaterials and develops imaging techniques to correlate chemical and structural properties with function/performance.

Matthew Shores / Professor, Department Chair
Phone: (970) 491-7235
Office: Chemistry Research 213

Coordination and organometallic complex synthesis and characterization: environmental control of spin-crossover properties; single-molecule magnets; solar photochemistry employing earth-abundant materials.

Chris Snow / Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Phone: (970) 491-5276
Office: Scott Bioengineering Building 356

Computational design, simulation, and experimental validation of new enzymes, and crystalline biomolecular assemblies. We convert porous protein crystals into “3D molecular pegboards” for the controlled assembly of nanoparticles, enzymes, fluorescent proteins, oligonucleotides, and other functional molecules.

Grzegorz Szamel / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-2795
Office: Chemistry C127B

Statistical mechanics, dynamics of colloidal and polymeric fluids, structure and dynamics of colloidal fluids under non-uniform flow conditions.

Alan Van Orden / Professor
Phone: (970) 491-6286
Office: Chemistry C207

Analytical and Physical Chemistry; DNA and RNA biophysics; Nanoscience; Single Molecule Detection and Spectroscopy; Optical, Scanning Probe, and Electron Microscopy; Super-Resolution Imaging

Megan Willis / Assistant Professor
Office: Chemistry C229A

Atmospheric chemical transformations in gas and particle phases using online mass spectrometry techniques. Understanding the sources and sinks of volatile organic compounds in the surface ocean, emission to the atmosphere and atmospheric fate. Atmospheric aerosol formation and growth, and chemistry-climate interactions. Instrument development to answer fundamental questions in atmospheric chemistry in both field and laboratory experiments.

Emeritus Faculty Members

George Barisas / Professor Emeritus
Phone: (970) 491-6641
Office: Chemistry C101

Laser optical techniques for analysis of cell surface phenomena; microcalorimetry

Elliot Bernstein / Professor Emeritus
Phone: (970) 491-6347
Office: Chemistry C326B

Conformation and potential energy surfaces of isolated and solvated non-rigid molecules, nucleation, growth, and structure of van der Waals clusters in the gas phase, energy dynamics and chemical reaction in van der Waals clusters, spectroscopy of reactive intermediates, metal oxide cluster catalysis, saccharides, neurotransmitters

Ellen Fisher / Professor Emeritus & Emeritus Department Chair
Phone: (970) 491-5250
Office: Chemistry C118

Plasma chemistry, reactivity of radicals with surfaces using LIF and molecular beam techniques. Plasma polymerization deposition and etching of materials. Characterization of plasma synthesized thin films.

Louis Hegedus / University Distinguished Professor Emeritus
Phone: (970) 491-6376
Office: Chemistry C301

Organic synthesis, organometallic chemistry.

Christopher Rithner / Senior Research Scientist / Scholar Emeritus
Office: Chemistry C002

Yian Shi / Professor Emeritus
Office: Chemistry C317

Organic and biological chemistry, new synthetic methodology, synthesis of chemically and biologically interesting natural products and study of their molecular mechanisms of action, study of enzymatic reaction mechanisms and development of therapeutic agents.

Patty Somers / Professor Emeritus
Phone: (970) 491-0705
Office: 504B

Frank Stermitz / Centennial Professor Emeritus
Phone: (970) 491-5158
Office: Chemistry C303

Alkaloid chemistry, natural product isolation, characterization, synthesis and biosynthesis, chemical ecology, plant-insect interactions.

Steven Strauss / Professor Emeritus
Phone: (970) 491-5104
Office: Chemistry C229E

Fundamental and applied aspects of synthetic inorganic, analytical and environmental chemistry; fluorinated superweak ions; selective fluorination and chlorination of fullerenes; pollution prevention; infrared sensors for environmental and industrial applications; redox-cyclable ion-exchange; layered materials; metal carbonyls

Stephen Thompson / Professor Emeritus
Phone: (970) 491-1700
Office: NESB B301

Investigation of techniques and procedures for low cost under graduate laboratory education, chemical education, amthocyanin chemistry, atmospheric aerosols.

Special Faculty Members

Anna Allen / Assistant Teaching Professor
Phone: (970) 491-7938

Ronnie Banerjee / Assistant Teaching Professor | Inorganic Laboratory Coordinator

Melissa Denler / Assistant Teaching Professor

Joseph DiVerdi / Associate Teaching Professor, Upper Division Undergraduate Lab Coordinator
Phone: (970) 491-1761

Terry Gray / Instructor
Office: Chemistry B201

Kerry MacFarland / Assistant Teaching Professor
Phone: (970) 491-2783

Brittney Morgan / Assistant Teaching Professor

Akiko Nakamura / Assistant Teaching Professor

Carlos Olivo-Delgado / Academic Success Coordinator | Associate Teaching Professor
Phone: (970) 491-0722
Office: Chemistry A105

Teaching Responsibilities: General Chemistry, Problem Solving in General Chemistry, Introductory Seminar in Chemistry, Honors Seminar: Water Science

Panduka Piyaratne / Assistant Teaching Professor | Organic Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator
Phone: (970) 491-2875

Ben Reynolds / Assistant Teaching Professor, General Chemistry Lab Coordinator, CLeRC Director

Ruth Tucker / Senior Instructor
Phone: (970) 491-0731