Chemistry and Biochemistry at Arizona State University is currently embracing a period of unprecedented growth. The department has benefited from a University-wide initiative to upgrade research space, with students and faculty enjoying new facilities in the Biodesign Institute and a new high-field NMR facility in the Interdisciplinary Science Building. This expansion in space has been accompanied by a corresponding increase in the faculty, with new members in areas such as environmental and geochemistry, analytical and sensor chemistry, bioorganic chemistry and biophysics, NMR spectroscopy and chemical education. Perhaps the most important factor enabling this growth, however, is a substantial increase in the number of outstanding graduate students over the last two years.

The Department consistently ranks in the top 30 among Ph.D. granting chemistry departments in terms of chemical research spending, and 7th nationally, behind only Harvard, U.C. Berkeley, Stanford, University of Wisconsin, Princeton and MIT, in papers published in Science and Nature in the last 5 years. ASU has a strong record in interdisciplinary research, recognized by a series of nationally funded centers. One recent example is the NSF training program in Biomolecular Nanotechnology, where students combine the functions of chemistry, biology and electronics. Combined with new programs in environmental chemistry, biosensors and nanotechnology, the research environment at ASU is contemporary, challenging and rewarding.

Graduate students are offered a wide range of research experiences from the traditional areas of chemistry where students usually work with a single faculty member, through highly interdisciplinary and collaborative projects. All students are encouraged to expand their research horizons and are challenged in ways that help them grow into creative and independent researchers.

ASU is located in the city of Tempe, part of the Phoenix metropolitan area, and is the cultural and intellectual center of Central Arizona. The area is a major center for the electronics and aerospace industries and recently has emerged as a new center for biomedical and biotechnology development. The population of the state has grown dramatically in recent years, resulting in a modern and dynamic community. Our graduate students enjoy all of the amenities of this contemporary urban environment, a very reasonable cost of living, and more than 300 days of sunshine annually!