News

Three New Chemistry Faculty Setting Sail on Their Mines’ Professor “ship”!

. .

The chemistry department are excited to welcome our newest faculty to Mines starting in Fall, 2024.

Assistant Professor Sam Johnson is coming from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with teaching contributions in the physical chemistry space and research interest in using a combination of electronic structure and molecular mechanics-based approaches to investigate molecules in various environments.

Assistant Professor David Halat comes to Mines from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Halat will contribute to the analytical curriculum and will focus research on electrophoretic NMR.

Assistant Teaching Professor Amanda Furness hails from Colorado Christian University and is interested in developing teaching pedagogy to focus on critical thinking. 

Preparing professionals

The programs of the Chemistry Department are designed to educate professionals for the varied career opportunities this central scientific discipline affords. At the undergraduate level, we offer a BS degree program in chemistry that is approved by the American Chemical Society and, new in 2019, a BS degree in biochemistry. In addition, we offer specific curricular tracks emphasizing biochemistry or environmental chemistry along with a more flexible chemistry track that can be tailored to optimize the preparation of students to achieve their specific career goals.

At the graduate level, the department offers MS and PhD degrees in Chemistry, Applied Chemistry and Geochemistry. In addition, MS and PhD degrees are also offered in Materials Science, Hydrological Sciences and Engineering through interdisciplinary graduate programs. The chemistry graduate program coordinates closely with the Material Science Program, graduate students from chemistry and material science conduct research in many of the labs under advisement of several faculty members. Students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in material science and interested in research with chemistry faculty are urged to contact those members.

The Chemistry Department maintains a high-quality, well-funded research program with participation of students at both the graduate and undergraduate level. The research program in the department emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to solving real world problems in areas including sustainability, alternative energy, materials, bio-detection, nanomedicines and water quality assessment, to name a few.

Mines faculty as a whole has been recognized by premier news organizations for the success they have observed in combining scholarly research with classroom instruction.

In 2024, the year of our 150th anniversary, we will celebrate Colorado School of Mines’ past, present and possibilities. By celebrating and supporting the Campaign for MINES@150 you will help elevate Mines to be an accessible, top-of-mind and first-choice for students, faculty, staff, recruiters and other external partners. When you give, you are ensuring Mines becomes even more distinctive and highly sought-after by future students, alumni, industry, and government partners over the next 150 years. We look forward to celebrating Mines’ sesquicentennial with you and recognizing the key role you play in making the MINES@150 vision a reality through your investments of time, talent and treasure.