Inorganic Research

The Penn State Department of Chemistry has one of the leading Inorganic Chemistry groups in the world. Faculty research interests include the traditional areas of bioinorganic, coordination, main group, organometallic, and solid-state chemistry, as well as strong interdisciplinary efforts in inorganic materials, nanoscience, metalloenzymes, active matter, and catalysis. Several groups seek to understand how metal-containing proteins and enzymes function. Other groups develop cutting edge methods to synthesize and characterize new molecules, polymers, solids, and nanoparticles and apply them to forefront applications in energy, medicine, and electronics.

Faculty

Harry Allcock Evan Pugh University Professor of Chemistry

Polymer synthesis, materials chemistry, and biomedicine

Amie Boal Associate Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and of Molecular Biology

Structural biology and mechanisms of metalloproteins

Martin Bollinger Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Mechanisms of redox metalloenzymes and metallocofactor assembly

Squire Booker Evan Pugh University Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Biochemistry; enzymology; protein chemistry; iron-sulfur clusters

Bert Chandler Professor of Chemistry and of Chemical Engineering

Environmental Catalysis; Nanoparticle & Materials Synthesis; Catalytic Reaction Mechanisms

Joseph Cotruvo Louis Martarano Career Development Professor of Chemistry

Chemical biology of metal ion and redox homeostasis

Julie Fenton Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Materials synthesis and characterization; inorganic, organic, and hybrid solids; colloidal nanomaterials; surface chemistry.

Ramesh Giri Weinreb Early Career Professor of Chemistry

Organic, organometallic, inorganic, and materials chemistry

Danielle Reifsnyder Hickey Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering

Atomic-resolution investigation, transformation, and synthesis of nanomaterials

James Hodges Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Solid-state Chemistry; Materials Synthesis; Catalytic Materials; Thermoelectrics

Christine Keating Professor of Chemistry

Bioinspired materials chemistry. Synthesis and characterization of organic/inorganic composite particles.

Jonathan Kuo Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Physical Organic, Organometallic, Bioinorganic

Carsten Krebs Professor of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Mechanisms of metalloenzymes

Ben Lear Associate Professor of Chemistry

Interplay between electronic properties of materials and their chemical environment

Raymond Schaak DuPont Professor of Materials Chemistry

Synthesis and applications of inorganic solids and nanomaterials

Ayusman Sen Verne M. Willaman Professor of Chemistry

Self-powered nanoscale and microscale motors and pumps

Alexey Silakov Assistant Professor of Chemistry

Metalloenzymology and structural biology

Courtesy Faculty

Roman Engel-Herbert Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering

Synthesis and characterization of oxide thin films

Zhiqiang Mao Professor of Physics

Synthesis and properties of quantum materials

Robert Rioux Friedrich G. Helfferich Professor of Chemical Engineering

Heterogeneous catalysis and reaction mechanisms in nanoscale systems

Mauricio Terrones Verne M. Willaman Professor of Physics

Synthesis and applications of 2-D materials