Faculty and students are engaged in a very wide variety of projects, many of which focus on interdisciplinary problems and involve collaborations with other research teams. This work makes use of specialized equipment available through the school’s research instrumentation facilities and our technical service facilities. These projects provide training opportunities for both our own and visiting undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral scholars.
As many of today’s most pressing scientific questions often require the combined expertise of many researchers, school faculty are often part of research centers that bring people with different skill sets together to address broad problems.
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Core Research Activities
Research Themes
Traditional Chemical Research Subfields
Core Research Activities
 Making molecules and materials lies at the heart of chemical science. |
 In order to make progress in the chemical sciences, we must identify substances and evaluate their properties. |
 Georgia Tech has several faculty who devote their full research effort to the development and application of methods from Theoretical Chemistry. Other faculty attempt to synthesize and understand experimental findings from their group using conceptual, mathematical, and computational models. |
Current Research Themes in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
 In the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech we look beyond petroleum as the raw material for the production of fuels and chemicals. We research how to efficiently use renewable resources, such as lignocellulosic biomass, for the production of biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Research in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech focuses on three key areas in the conversion of renewable biomass into biofuels and bio-based chemicals. |
 RNA, DNA, and proteins are complex macromolecules that carry out biological processes. Proteins are exquisitely shaped to achieve their functions. DNA and RNA are involved in maintaining and transducing information. With structural knowledge we can begin to understand how biological macromolecules function in a living organism and gain insight into how abnormal structures cause disease. |
 The development of new catalysts and catalytic methods is central to addressing important issues in the small-scale synthesis of organic and inorganic compounds, large-scale chemical production, generation and storage of energy, and development of a sustainable way of life. The school's work on catalysis includes biological, heterogeneous, and small-molecule approaches. |
 The School of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech has a strong interest in complex systems, including chemical evolution, nanoparticle-cell interactions, brain tumor diagnostics, and the chemical defenses of seaweed. Understanding these systems requires the spatial resolution provided by chemical and biological imaging. |
 Chemical biology brings the synthetic and analytical skills of chemistry to the study of living systems and harnesses those systems for the production of useful molecules. At Georgia Tech, chemical biologists work closely with chemical and biomolecular engineers to convert fundamental insights into practical applications. |
 Chemical educators are focused on enhancing the educational experience for students while increasing the retention of concepts from their courses. Research may focus on how students learn, new teaching methods, classroom participation in lectures or demonstrations, and new methods for laboratory instruction. |
 Research groups within the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry are using chemical, biological, and computational tools to understand the historical evolution of the biological molecules we have in life today, from the origin of life to relatively recent adaptations, and to evolve new molecules with applications of commercial and therapeutic importance. |
 The challenge of powering the planet with clean energy motivates a broad spectrum of dynamic research efforts in the school. These range from studies of the mechanisms of biological energy capture and conversion to discovery of new catalysts for the production of clean chemical fuels to the design and manufacture of new materials for solar energy conversion and storage. |
 The school’s research activities include several different aspects of environmental chemistry. Our faculty members have programs in atmospheric chemistry, the development of methods for the large-scale synthesis of chemicals with minimal adverse environmental impact, and the role of chemical signals in ecosystems. |
 The school has an internationally recognized broad-based effort in materials chemistry, including programs on polymers, small-molecule-based materials, inorganic solids, nanomaterials of many flavors, and biomaterials. Materials preparation is coupled with state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical tools in a highly collaborative and interdisciplinary environment. |
 The successful design and development of new biological and/or synthetic drug molecules requires the overlap and intermingling of many disciplines, such as biochemistry, molecular biology, computational chemistry, and organic synthesis, into medicinal chemistry. Within the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, an active interdisciplinary program exists that is ultimately focused toward drug discovery, development, and delivery. |
 Molecular biophysics is a vibrant, interdisciplinary research area, including investigations of macromolecular structure, function, and catalysis. A wide variety of approaches, including spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, microscopy, single-molecule-techniques, and computation are employed. Current research foci of the faculty include the structure, function, and evolution of nucleic acids; membranes, protein misfolding and protein function; and cellular sensors and cellular/extracellular dynamics. |
 Faculty and students are engaged in a wide variety of projects that involve i) the synthesis of nanomaterials with controlled compositions, sizes, shapes, structures, and properties; ii) developing a fundamental understanding of nucleation and growth mechanisms; iii) investigation of the relationships between size, shape, structure, and property; iv) the fabrication of electronic/photonic/sensing devices; and v) the exploration of new applications in catalysis, photonics, information storage, energy harvesting/storage/conversion, environmental science, imaging, and biomedicine. |
 A very strong effort in the general areas of space and planetary science as well as astrochemistry exists within the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Specifically, there is a world-class effort in understanding nonequilibrium processing of surfaces and materials within and beyond our solar system. In addition, there are major efforts to examine the atomic and chemical composition of meteorite and lunar samples that may hold clues to the details of planet formation and possibly the chemical origin of life. |
 Polymer chemistry and physics are developed and investigated in numerous groups across the school with theoretical, computational, synthetic, biochemical, physical, and analytical approaches used in the studies. Fundamental polymerization mechanisms, new materials based on traditional, pi-conjugated, and bio-inspired polymer backbones, along with solution and solid-state characterizations, are all pursued through multi-group collaborations and interactions. |
 Utilizing ultrahigh resolution to ultrafast studies, a broad range of researchers develops and applies cutting-edge spectroscopies to understand important chemical systems. Our ground-breaking studies of new materials continue to drive advances in catalysis, fluorescence and chemical imaging, biological dynamics, reduced-dimension nanostructure properties, and molecule-light interactions. These fundamental insights of molecular and nanomaterial behavior inform design of further improved materials tailored to a wide range of applications. |
 The School of Chemistry and Biochemistry has many programs that focus on surface and interface science, aiming to understand the detailed geometric and chemical structures of both “hard” and "soft" surfaces. There is a major emphasis on understanding charge transport and energy exchange under nonthermal, nonequilibrium conditions. The programs focus on energy and environmental/sustainability issues and applications as well as biological and medical application. |
Traditional Chemical Subfields
 Research in the analytical chemistry area involves investigation of new analytically useful phenomena via theory, modeling, and experiments. The development of new measurement tools to provide better chemical information at the macromolecular, nanomolecular, and molecular scales is a central activity of this area. Typical applications of analytical chemistry include proteomics, metabolomics, forensics, biomedicine, clinical chemistry, environmental studies, food safety, structural studies, and materials characterization. |
 Biochemistry is the study of the chemistry that underlies the complexity of life. The Georgia Tech biochemistry faculty makes fundamental contributions to our understanding of vital areas, including evolution and macromolecular structure, function, and regulation, and in the development of biofuels and new pharmaceutical agents. |
 Inorganic researchers prepare and characterize metal-containing molecules and materials for applications including the development of new catalysts for solar energy conversion and the production of clean chemical fuels; the capture and activation of CO2; optical imaging in biological systems; drug delivery; and the preparation of next-generation optical devices, displays, and refrigeration technologies. |
 Organic chemistry is the study of known and new carbon-containing compounds. Research at Georgia Tech addresses a broad spectrum of topics of current interest including investigations at the frontiers of bioorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, organic synthesis, and materials science, with special emphasis on organic chemistry that interfaces with biology, medicine, electroactive and optical materials, and nanotechnology. |
 Physical chemistry at Georgia Tech is a vibrant, internationally recognized program that pursues a broad array of state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical research efforts to understand the structure, properties, and chemical and physical processes in atomic and molecular systems, interfaces, nanostructures, synthetic and biological polymers, materials, and living cells. |
 Theoretical chemistry is the formulation of mathematical models describing chemical phenomena, the implementation of these models as computer programs, and the development of new approximations or improved algorithms to make the models more accurate or easier to compute. |
