Range of Faculty Research

To get involved in research, students are invited to talk to faculty in person about openings in their research lab. In addition, watch out for student seminar presentations to get a glimpse of life in the labs. Use the list of example project areas below to sample the possible range of projects.
Julian Kellner-Rogers loading a protein gel

Potential research opportunities with our faculty encompass a broad range of chemistry fields, including biochemistry, organic chemistry, theoretical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, environmental chemistry and materials science.  And most importantly, since our focus is solely on undergraduate students, you'll have the chance to be centrally involved in our research activity from the very beginning. 

Check out the faculty pages for specifics on our research programs. 

Rebecca Craig, Atmospheric Chemistry

  • Ion behavior of atmospherically-relevant acid-base equilibrium systems
  • Kinetics of pH-dependent chemical reactions of atmospheric aerosols

Akiko Fillinger, Analytical Chemistry

  • Materials for solar energy utilization - synthesis and characterization of materials that absorb the potential energy of solar photons and catalyze the production of sustainable alternative fuel (such as H2 via water-splitting and alcohols from atmospheric CO2 dissolved in water) and other important chemical reactions.
  • Metal oxides, electrochemistry, and surface chemistry - our main focus is metal oxides, for instance Cu2O and Fe2O3, which can be electrodeposited in our lab.  We pay special attention to the surfaces of the metal oxides, where catalytic activities take place, and examine the properties of the metal oxides using electrochemical methods in our lab and surface chemistry instrumentation at Cornell Center for Materials Research. 

Michael Haaf, Organic Chemistry

  • Synthesis of polymeric materials with interesting properties: Porous polymers, Conjugated polymers, and Biodegradable Polymers
  • Development of hands-on experiments for chemistry education
  • Synthetic methodology: Exploring the scope of the benzannulation reaction

Janet Hunting, Solid State Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, and Inorganic Chemistry

  • Solid-state synthesis of oxide and nitride materials with interesting properties and applications (fuel cells, superconductors)
  • X-ray Crystallography

Anna Larsen,  Organometallic and Inorganic Chemistry

  • Low melting ionic salts based with cluster carborane and ortho-carborane anions
  • Transition metal electrophilic complexes with weakly-coordinating carborane anions
  • Synthesis, structural and reactivity studies of rhodium and other transition metal complexes with pincer ligands for organic transformation catalysis (in collaboration with Professor Oleg Ozerov group in Texas A & M)

DJ Robinson, Organic synthesis and Chemical Education

  • Synthesis of biologically active natural products and their analogs
  • Development of undergraduate lab experiments for education

Andrew Torelli, Protein Biochemistry and Chemical Education

  • Characterizing bacterial proteins structurally (X-ray crystallography), functionally (activity and kinetic assays), and through computational (ligand docking) methods
  • Research and development of novel inquiry-based curricular materials and course-based undergraduate research experiences
  • Developing accessible tools for Citizen Science

Scott Ulrich, Biochemistry and Organic Chemistry

  • Bacterial quorum sensing as an antibacterial strategy
  • Metabolism: either aberrant cancer cell metabolism and ketone body levels for aging-related diseases