Academics

The Department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology at Cornell has been home to some of the world's most distinguished chemists, including four Nobel Prize winners and two MacArthur "Genius" Awards. Our faculty are renowned for their groundbreaking research in many areas, ranging from nanoscale materials and polymers to supramolecular chemistry. Whether you are an undergraduate exploring the discipline or a graduate student working on a Ph.D., you will be able to conduct cutting-edge research with the leading chemists in the field today.

More About Academics

Undergraduate Program Graduate Program Courses Department Faculty

Graduate Program

As a graduate student in Chemistry & Chemical Biology, you will receive training across the chemical sciences while focusing on one of five in-depth programs of study: Analytical, Inorganic, Organic, Physical, or Theoretical. You will conduct advanced research with our distinguished faculty or you can join a laboratory at one of the state-of-the-art research facilities at Cornell, such as the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility (CNF) or Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS)

Nearly all graduate students work as Teaching Assistants in undergraduate Chemistry & Chemical Biology courses in their first year in the program. Admission to the graduate program guarantees at least five years of full financial support as long as you show satisfactory progress toward your Ph.D. degree.

Undergraduate Program

Majoring in Chemistry & Chemical Biology at Cornell will allow you to explore the foundations of the discipline and the fields it intersects with—the Life Sciences, Physics, and Engineering. The undergraduate program will prepare you for a variety of careers in industry, academia, government, and the non-profit sector.

Here are a few of our undergraduate courses:

CCB News

Merrill Scholars honor mentors at 35th annual ceremony

5/26/2023

Forty-three student scholars, including nine from Arts and Sciences, were honored at this year’s 35th Merrill Presidential Scholars ceremony on May 23.

A&S faculty honored for exemplary teaching, advising

5/23/2023

“Helping students realize their greatest potential is at the core of our mission in the College of Arts & Sciences."

Picking up good vibrations – of proteins – at CHESS

5/15/2023

A new method for analyzing protein crystals – developed by Cornell researchers and given a funky two-part name – could open up applications for new drug discovery and other areas of biotechnology and biochemistry.

$2.5M in A&S New Frontier Grants supports bold projects

5/17/2023

A&S faculty members will delve into questions ranging from quantum computing to foreign policy development and from heritage forensics to effects of climate change.

Nexus Scholars Program expands research opportunities to 101 students

5/15/2023

This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program.