
Research in the Department of Chemistry at Virginia Tech is innovative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary. Nearly all of our research activities extend beyond conventional boundaries, embracing engineering, biology, medicine and agriculture. The strength of these initiatives has been recognized nationally for many years by the continual presence of special funded programs. Faculty in our department form cross-disciplinary relationships with researchers across campus, the nation, and the world.
Research Areas
Analytical
Analytical chemistry is a strong program in the Department of Chemistry at Virginia Tech. Our research covers the frontier advanced NMR, FTIR, laser and X-ray spectroscopy. Researchers are tackling some of the most puzzling fundamental questions in the energy and environment field. The analytical cluster also enjoys partnerships with a number of national laboratories.

Matthew Buczynski
Affiliated Professor
mwb@vt.edu
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Tijana Grove
Assistant Professor
tijana.grove@vt.edu
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Feng Lin
Assistant Professor
fenglin@vt.edu
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Gary Long
Associate Professor
glong@vt.edu
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Louis Madsen
Associate Professor
lmadsen@vt.edu
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Amanda Morris
Associate Professor
ajmorris@vt.edu
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John Morris
Professor
jrmorris@vt.edu
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Brian Tissue
Associate Professor
tissue@vt.edu
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Drug Discovery, Chemical Biology, and Medicinal Chemistry
The area of drug discovery, including chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, has been a major focus at Virginia Tech for several decades. Students and faculty in this group from a core component of the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery, which integrates dozens of research groups across campus interested in drug design, development, and delivery.

Matthew Buczynski
Affiliated Professor
mwb@vt.edu
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Paul Carlier
Professor
pcarlier@vt.edu
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Felicia Etzkorn
Professor
fetzkorn@vt.edu
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Richard Gandour
Professor
gandour@vt.edu
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Tijana Grove
Assistant Professor
tijana.grove@vt.edu
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Jatinder Josan
Assistant Professor
jsjosan@vt.edu
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David Kingston
University Distinguished Professor
dkingsto@vt.edu
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Andrew Lowell
Assistant Professor
alowell@vt.edu
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Webster Santos
Professor
santosw@vt.edu
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Energy Sciences
Energy Sciences is a rapidly growing area in the Department of Chemistry at Virginia Tech. Our faculty, postdocs, and students are tackling some of the most pressing energy challenges that our Earth faces, ranging from energy harvesting, conversion, and storage. The program enjoys an excellent international reputation in designing novel inorganic and organic energy materials, advanced characterization, and fabrication of novel energy devices. Students are exposed to a world of collaborative opportunities across the globe.

Feng Lin
Assistant Professor
fenglin@vt.edu
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Guoliang (Greg) Liu
Assistant Professor
gliu1@vt.edu
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Timothy Long
Professor
telong@vt.edu
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Amanda Morris
Associate Professor
ajmorris@vt.edu
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Lou Madsen
Associate Professor
lmadsen@vt.edu
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Robert Moore
Professor
rbmoore3@vt.edu
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Judy Riffle
Professor
judyriffle@aol.com
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Inorganic
Virginia Tech Chemistry is the home for interdisciplinary inorganic chemistry research. Researchers in this cluster explore the chemical and physical properties of inorganic compounds at all length scales, from small molecules to bulk materials. They are particularly passionate about understanding and improving the properties for catalysis, bioinorganic, magnetism, batteries, and solar cells. Faculty, postdocs, and students enjoy collaborations with national labs, international institutions, and companies.

Paul Deck
Associate Professor
pdeck@vt.edu
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Feng Lin
Assistant Professor
fenglin@vt.edu
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Joseph Merola
Professor
jmerola@vt.edu
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Amanda Morris
Associate Professor
ajmorris@vt.edu
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Gordon Yee
Associate Professor
gyee@vt.edu
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Nanoscience and Nanomedicine
Virginia Tech offers one of the most comprehensive nanoscience programs in the country. The research covers the design and discovery of nanomaterials, with research topics ranging from synthesis, characterization, processing, to fabrication of nanomaterials for focused application areas such as energy and health care.

Harry Dorn
Professor
hdorn@vt.edu
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Tijana Grove
Assistant Professor
tijana.grove@vt.edu
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Feng Lin
Assistant Professor
fenglin@vt.edu
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Greg Liu
Assistant Professor
gliu1@vt.edu
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Tim Long
Professor
telong@vt.edu
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John Matson
Associate Professor
jbmatson@vt.edu
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Amanda Morris
Associate Professor
ajmorris@vt.edu
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Michael Schulz
Assistant Professor
mdschulz@vt.edu
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Organic
Research in organic chemistry at Virginia Tech covers several areas, including physical organic chemistry, organic synthesis, medicinal chemistry, and chemical biology. The organic groups are tight knit, frequently sharing chemicals and instruments and helping each other move projects forward. Several faculty members in this group are part of the Virginia Tech Center for Drug Discovery, which integrates dozens of research groups across campus interested in drug design, development, and delivery.

Paul Carlier
Professor
pcarlier@vt.edu
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Harry Dorn
Professor
hdorn@vtc.vt.edu
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Felicia Etzkorn
Professor
fetzkorn@vt.edu
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Richard Gandour
Professor
gandour@vt.edu
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Tijana Grove
Assistant Professor
tijana.grove@vt.edu
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Jatinder Josan
Assistant Professor
jsjosan@vt.edu
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David Kingston
University Distinguished Professor
dkingsto@vt.edu
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Andrew Lowell
Assistant Professor
alowell@vt.edu
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John Matson
Associate Professor
jbmatson@vt.edu
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Judy Riffle
Professor
judyriffle@aol.com
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Webster Santos
Professor
santosw@vt.edu
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Michael Schulz
Assistant Professor
mdschulz@vt.edu
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Jim Tanko
Professor
jtanko@vt.edu
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Physical
With both basic and problem-focused science represented, the Physical Chemistry division is a microcosm of the fruitful dichotomy that is the Chemistry Department at Virginia Tech. Our faculty in the Physical Chemistry division address a wide span of problems, ranging from polymer characterization and analysis, to new techniques to solve the electronic Schrödinger equation.

Daniel Crawford
Professor
crawdad@vt.edu
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Harry Dorn
Professor
hdorn@vt.edu
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Alan Esker
Professor
aesker@vt.edu
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Louis Madsen
Associate Professor
lmadsen@vt.edu
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Hervé Marand
Professor
hmarand@vt.edu
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Nicholas Mayhall
Assistant Professor
nmayhall@vt.edu
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Robert Moore
Professor
rbmoore3@vt.edu
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Jim Tanko
Professor
jtanko@vt.edu
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Diego Troya
Associate Professor
troya@vt.edu
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Edward Valeev
Professor
valeev76@vt.edu
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Polymer
Virginia Tech boasts one of the best polymer chemistry research and teaching enterprises in the world. Internationally recognized as leaders in polymer research and pedagogy, the polymer division faculty lead a diverse research program with emphases on additive manufacturing, polymer drug delivery, high-performance materials, sustainable polymers, biomedical materials, polymers for energy applications, and novel polymer chemistry.

Paul Deck
Associate Professor
pdeck@vt.edu
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Alan Esker
Professor
aesker@vt.edu
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Harry Gibson
Professor
hwgibson@vt.edu
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Greg Liu
Assistant Professor
gliu1@vt.edu
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Tim Long
Professor
telong@vt.edu
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Louis Madsen
Associate Professor
lmadsen@vt.edu
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Hervé Marand
Professor
hmarand@vt.edu
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John Matson
Assistant Professor
jbmatson@vt.edu
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Robert Moore
Professor
rbmoore3@vt.edu
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Judy Riffle
Professor
judyriffle@aol.com
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Michael Schulz
Assistant Professor
mdschulz@vt.edu
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Theory and Computational
Virginia Tech is home to a dynamic community of students, postdocs, and faculty working in theoretical chemistry, with research topics ranging from the very fundamental to the technologically relevant. Special areas of focus involve massive parallelism for high performance computing, accurate theories for molecular property simulations, low-scaling approaches for electron correlation, molecular dynamics simulations, and new methods for strongly correlated systems.

Daniel Crawford
Professor
crawdad@vt.edu
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Nicholas Mayhall
Assistant Professor
nmayhall@vt.edu
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Diego Troya
Associate Professor
troya@vt.edu
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Edward Valeev
Professor
valeev76@vt.edu
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