Department of Chemistry

Chair’s Welcome

Welcome to the Department of Chemistry, where our pursuit of academic and research excellence is a daily practice and embodies the Jesuit tradition of cura personalis, part of the Spirit of Georgetown. With a commitment to diversity, our department offers many exciting learning and research opportunities in core and emerging interdisciplinary areas of chemistry that are at the forefront of modern chemical sciences. Our faculty—which includes six prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER awardees, a Department of Energy Early Career Awardee, several editorial board members of scientific journals, and three endowed professorships including the William G. McGowan Chair in Chemistry—are committed to continued excellence in teaching, as is evidenced in our Mission and Learning Goals. Our department of 17 active research groups—numbering approximately 75 Ph.D. students, 10 postdocs and research scientists, and 85 undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry majors—regularly boasts an annual productivity of more than 60 peer-reviewed papers in top chemistry journals. International collaborations in South America, Europe, and Asia, the opening of the state-of-the-art New Science Center in Fall 2012, and the planned increase in the number of faculty and students further enhance our department’s cutting-edge research opportunities.

Located in the heart of Georgetown’s campus, which overlooks Washington, DC and the Potomac River, the Chemistry Department is only a few miles from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Naval Research Laboratory, in addition to many world-class public and private research centers, think tanks, museums, archives, and galleries.  We appreciate your interest in our department, where many exciting things are happening, as throughout the university. We look forward to sharing these opportunities and advancements with you.

Timothy H. Warren
Richard D. Vorisek Professor of Chemistry, Department Chair