Department of Chemistry
The Chemistry Department at Colorado School of Mines emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to solving real-world problems in areas such as sustainability, alternative fuels and energy, bio-detection, materials, nanomedicines and water quality assessment.
Department of Chemistry
The Chemistry Department at Colorado School of Mines emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches to solving real-world problems in areas such as sustainability, alternative fuels and energy, bio-detection, materials, nanomedicines and water quality assessment.
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.

Mines@150
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.
News
- Christine Morrison featured on Smart Athlete podcast
Morrison, a competitive triathlete who began her sports journey in speedskating, talked about her career path and athletics, as well as her research in drug development and carbon recycling - Five ways Mines researchers and their students are making campus safer during the pandemic
Through these projects and others, Mines faculty and students are giving Mines an upper hand in responding to the pandemic and its challenges. - Microporous crystals could provide regenerable, reversible storage environment for ammonia transport
“This proof-of-concept work could provide a useful starting point for the design of future materials for reversible gas storage,” Mines PhD candidate James M. Crawford said. - Mines graduate student wins DOE funding to conduct research at national laboratory
Applied chemistry PhD student Sarah Zaccarine will be doing electrolyzer degradation studies at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory as part of her graduate thesis research.