About the Chemistry Department

The Chemistry department at University of Idaho offers B.S. and research M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry. For the student who wants to pursue a graduate degree or will work in a field related to chemistry, we offer the Professional B.S. in Chemistry, which is the degree accredited by the American Chemical Society. For students interested in pursuing careers in medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy we offer a B.S.-Pre Med. For teaching secondary school or for those adding chemistry as a second degree (such as Chemical Engineering, Physics or a biology related field) we offer the General B.S. degree.  For those students who want to enter the field of forensic chemistry at a state or federal crime laboratory we now offer the B.S. Forensics degree.  A non-thesis Masters in Chemistry is also offered for those who want to focus on course work only.

The department is located in Renfrew Hall, named after Malcolm Renfrew, a former faculty member and chair of the department who continues as a generous benefactor of the program. The building houses nearly 20 faculty with assistance from ten permanent staff members. The number of graduate students pursuing advanced degrees is between 35-45, and we have approximately 10 postdoctoral scientists and visiting faculty and over 100 undergraduate majors at any time.

Research in the department is loosely organized around the traditional divisions of analytical, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry, but opportunities to cross disciplines within the department and with other academic departments are plentiful. Please look around and don't hesitate to contact us.