Facilities
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Kent State University maintains outstanding research and instrumentation facilities to support the research mission of its faculty and students.
Individual faculty laboratories are well equipped with chromatographic, spectroscopic, light-scattering, thermal analysis, gravimetric and mass-spectrometric equipment. Single-crystal and powder X-ray diffractometers are also housed in research laboratories in the department. Faculty members have custom-constructed unique Laser-Tweezers instruments and Fourier-transform microwave spectrometers, and a Surface Plasmon Resonance instrument will be installed in 2010. Kent State researchers have access to a wide array of synthetic techniques including photochemical, Schlenk-line and other air-sensitive methodologies. You can learn more about faculty research interests by browsing through our faculty directory.
Our students and faculty frequently collaborate with researchers in the Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute and other related departments. These collaborations may provide access to the recently acquired (2010) Transmission Electron Microscope facility in the Liquid Crystal Institute and the Imaging Facility in Biological Sciences.
The Proteomics Core Facility assists researchers with isolation/purification, fractionation and DNA sequencing. Research Engineer Larry Maurer maintains the Department’s Glassblowing and Electronic shops in the basement of Williams Hall. The Chemistry-Physics Library holds an extensive collection of scientific journals, texts and monographs, and Chemistry-Physics librarians assist researchers with online database searches. The Physics/Chemistry machine shop in nearby Smith Hall provides expert machining services for our students and faculty. Researchers can explore complex chemical and biochemical structures using the unique-to-Ohio 3D immersive classroom found on the first floor of Williams Hall; this facility allows viewers to virtually enter the interiors of large molecular structures to explore chemical and biochemical interactions. Our largest lecture hall, Williams 110, is also outfitted with stereoscopic projection for classroom instruction in 3D.
Industrial researchers should contact Dr. Mahinda Gangoda, director of the department’s Analytical Instrumentation Facility, regarding pilot or short-term industrial research projects that may utilize the department’s research facilities.