Mar 28, 2024  
2008-2009 Graduate Catalog 
    
2008-2009 Graduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

College of Arts and Sciences


Chemistry

Head:

Eric Maatta

Directors of graduate studies:

Christer B. Aakeröy
Paul E. Smith

Graduate faculty:

Christer B. Aakeröy, Ph.D., University of Sussex, United Kingdom.
Christine M. Aikens, Ph.D., Iowa State University.
Stefan Bossmann, Ph.D., University of Saarland, Germany.
Viktor Chikan, Ph.D., Kansas State University.
Christopher T. Culbertson, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Daniel A. Higgins, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Mark D. Hollingsworth, Ph.D., Yale University.
Duy H. Hua, Ph.D., Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
Takashi Ito, Ph.D., University of Tokyo.
Ryszard Jankowiak, Ph.D., Technical University, Gdansk, Poland.
Kenneth J. Klabunde, Ph.D., University of Iowa.
Stefan Kraft, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Christopher J. Levy, Ph.D., University of Western Ontario.
Jun Li, Ph.D., Princeton University.
Eric A. Maatta, Ph.D., Indiana University.
Sundeep Rayat, Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia.
Paul E. Smith, Ph.D., University of Liverpool, England.
Louis M. Wojcinski, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University.

Graduate faculty emeriti:

Copeland, James L., Ph.D., Indiana University.
Fateley, William G., Ph.D., Kansas State University.
Hammaker, Robert M., Ph.D., Northwestern University.
Hawley, M. Dale, Ph.D., University of Kansas.
Kruh, Robert E., Ph.D., Washington University, St. Louis.
McDonald, Richard N., Ph.D., University of Washington.
Meloan, Clifton E., Ph.D., Purdue University.
Moser, Herbert Charles, Ph.D., Iowa State University.
Setser, Donald W., Ph.D., University of Washington.
Sherwood, Peter, Ph.D., Cambridge University.

Facilities

Kansas State University is committed to providing its students and faculty with an excellent and stimulating atmosphere in which to conduct research. This commitment is reflected by the over two million dollars of new instrumentation added to the department in recent years and by the construction of our new Chemistry-Biochemistry building. As a medium-sized chemistry department, K-State is large enough to ensure that our students are provided access to a variety of first-rate equipment, yet small enough to assure our students of a close personal interaction with faculty. We recognize that our students are individuals, and our programs are structured so as to allow each student to reach his or her potential at an appropriate pace.

The Department of Chemistry occupies a complex of three buildings: Willard Hall, King Hall and the state-of-the-art, four-story Chemistry/Biochemistry Laboratory. Over 75,000 total square feet of laboratory and office space are available for research by 18 faculty members and approximately 70 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Kansas State University provides excellent library facilities and support for research in the chemical sciences. The library currently subscribes to more than 150 journals representing virtually every major chemical specialty. Additionally, the library participates in an interlibrary loan service that permits researchers access to work that has been published in obscure journals. Photocopying facilities and online structure and database searching of Chemical Abstracts are available.

The Department is well equipped with instrumentation to support modern chemical research, most of which is available for hands-on use by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty. Major instruments, housed either in central departmental facilities or in individual research groups, include Varian 500-MHz, 400-MHz, and 200-MHz multinuclear NMR spectrometers, a Tecmag 300 MHz solid state NMR spectrometer with magic angle spinning and static sample capabilities, a Bruker ER 200DSRC EPR spectrometer, a Hewlett-Packard GC/LC/MS facility with EI, CI and FAB ionization capabilities, a laser pulsed desorption Fourier transform mass spectrometer, several FTIR instruments, an absorbance/fluorescence microplate reader, several diode array and scanning uv/vis spectrophotometers, a fluorometer with dual monochromators and photon counting capabilities, surface science facilities (three XPS instruments, one equipped with scanning Auger and SIMS), wavelength dispersive X-ray analysis, and a Mossbauer spectrometer. A full-time support specialist maintains the NMR facility.

Laser instrumentation for spectroscopy, dynamics, and kinetics includes multiple argon ion and cw-dye lasers, green and red HeNe lasers, several diode lasers, excimer lasers, nanosecond pulsed Nd:YAG lasers and YAG-pumped dye lasers with frequency doubling and tripling capabilities. There is also a tunable femtosecond/picosecond mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser with pulse picking and frequency doubling/tripling capabilities. Laser spectroscopic capabilities include steady-state and picosecond timeresolved fluorescence, and single molecule fluorescence.

Microscopy facilities include transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, extensive light microscopy facilities, a sample-scanning confocal microscope and a near-field optical microscope, both of which have demonstrated single-molecule detection sensitivity.

The Chemistry Department’s small molecule X-ray crystallography facility is equipped with a Bruker SMART 1000 CCD instrument and low temperature device. The instrument is also capable of powder Xray experiments. Most data collections involve use of a molybdenum X-ray source, though copper radiation is also available. The facility is run by a full-time staff crystallographer.

Equipment available for synthesis and characterization includes a differential scanning calorimeter, thermal gravimetric analyzer, surface area/pore structure analyzer, viscometer, polarimeter, programmable temperature-controlled crystal growth facilities, metal vapor reactors, inert atmosphere boxes, an ozone generator, and a high pressure reactor.

Biochemical equipment includes centrifuges, a thermocycler, gel electrophoresis equipment, and a water purification system.

Computational facilities include multiple IBM PowerPC and IBM RS6000 workstations, a Dell Precision 410 with dual processor, a DEC AlphaServer, and Silicon Graphics 10000, Indy, and O2 workstations, and numerous Pentium PCs. Chemistry researchers can also obtain access to a multiprocessor Convex facility housed in the Physics department. Molecular modeling, simulation, and electronic structure software include Insight II, Sybyl, Spartan, Cerius2, GAUSSIAN 98, CRYSTALL 92, GSTAT, and the Cambridge Structural Database.

The Department also has a well-stocked chemical storeroom, electronics and machine shops (staffed with full-time personnel), and a professional master glassblower.

Programs of study and group structure

The Department of Chemistry offers programs leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees specializing in analytical, biological, inorganic, materials, organic, and physical chemistry. The department faculty and research programs are operated through six overlapping “groups”. Each “group” has faculty and adjunct faculty who work together to coordinate a “group” graduate program involving graduate courses, seminar programs and a cumulative examination system.

Entering students are administered diagnostic exams in each of the traditional areas of chemistry (analytical, inorganic, organic, and physical) designed to assess their preparations for graduate studies. Outstanding students are encouraged to take advanced standing exams that allow certain required course work to be bypassed. A minimum grade of C must be obtained in all courses in order to earn credit and a minimum overall grade point average of 3.0 (out of a possible 4.0) is necessary. Original research is the most important part of the graduate program, and selection of a research director is made during the first semester in residence in order to allow students to start work on their research projects at an early date.

Financial support

Most graduate students are supported for the duration of their studies by various teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships. Incoming students are generally awarded teaching assistantships; summer support also is provided if performance in course work and teaching duties during the academic year is satisfactory. Students with excellent undergraduate credentials frequently receive supplemental departmental fellowships and are considered for graduate fellowships on a university-wide competitive basis. Outstanding graduate students are recognized annually through teaching and research awards.

For more information

For additional information and application materials please contact:
Graduate Admissions Committee
Kansas State University
Department of Chemistry
111 Willard Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-3701
785-532-6665
Home Page: http://www.ksu.edu/chem

Programs

Doctor of Philosophy

Master of Science

Courses

Analytical Chemistry

General Chemistry

Inorganic Chemistry

Materials Chemistry

Organic Chemistry

Physical Chemistry