Welcome to the Chemistry Department!

Chemistry at Amherst thrives on close, personal interactions between our talented students and our dedicated faculty.  Class sizes are kept small except for the introductory courses, and even those courses break up into small discussion and laboratory sections taught almost exclusively by faculty.

Please explore our site for information about our committment to equity, inclusion, and anti-racism, our courses, the major, and our faculty's teaching and research interests

Research opportunities abound, both within the Department and in interdisciplinary projects, affording students the chance to work on groundbreaking scientific problems while developing a close mentoring relationship with faculty.  Add to this mix first-rate facilities, equipment, and support staff, and you have an ideal environment in which to pursue your scientific interests, challenge your curiosity, and, who knows, maybe even launch your career!

The department meets regularly for a seminar every Friday at 3:30 p.m when classes are in session with refreshments served at 3:15 pm. (Click here for the seminar schedule.) You are strongly encouraged to attend these seminars, and Chemistry majors in their senior year are required to attend them. The seminar content may be a talk by an outside speaker, presentations by senior majors, or a chance to get together and discuss the work presented by an outside speaker. These seminars are a useful opportunity to learn more about Chemistry and our department.

If you are interested in graduate work in Chemistry, we encourage you to explore opportunities for such study. You may not realize it, but most chemistry departments pay you to attend graduate school! This includes tuition and a modest, but quite livable, stipend. Also, you should be aware that the National Science Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the Department of Defense, among other organizations, sponsor graduate research fellowships, for which you may be eligible to apply, even before you start graduate school.

Every year the department offers a number of prizes and awards to students.  Also, check out information on summer research opportunities and Amherst chemistry graduates

The main department office in Science Center A205 is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  We can be contacted at:

Department of Chemistry
AC# 2243
Amherst College
Amherst, MA 01002-5000
413.542.2342
413.542.2735 (fax)

Maps and directions are available at: Visit Amherst


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Tags:  chemistry