Research

The Chemistry department is well equipped for ongoing research performed by individual faculty. Abbot Hall was expanded (1992) and remodeled (1997), with 73,000 square feet of space now dedicated entirely to teaching and research in chemistry. Most classrooms are equipped with the latest electronic and media presentation tools and wireless broadband access is available throughout the building. With 30 faculty and student offices as well as 29 laboratories and classrooms, Abbott Hall provides some of the most modern teaching and research facilities in the state of North Dakota and surrounding regions.

Instrumentation utilized by the department is modern and extensive. Major equipment includes a Bruker AVANCE 500 high-field superconducting nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer (with multinuclear solution capability), a Siemens P-4 single crystal X-ray diffractometer, a high resolution time of flight mass spectrometer (MS) with optional high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a number of gas chromatographs (GC) and GC/MS units, several FT-IR spectrometers, atomic absorption and emission spectrometers, thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimeters, several UV-Vis and fluorescence spectrometers, a Jasco-J810 Spectropolarimeter, and numerous other specialized instruments used by individual faculty members and their students. In addition a number of imaging instruments are accessible in the Basic Sciences Imaging center in the Medical School at UND.

The department operates (or hosts) a variety of computational platforms, ranging from individual PCs to linux/UNIX clusters to address varied needs. For word processing and communications, graduate students & faculty alike have 24-hour access to departmental computer labs housing 20 networked PCs and Macintosh computers with laser printers, in addition to the PCs in virtually every office. For research, the department maintains several multi-node workstations, workstation clusters (e.g., 64 processor cluster, 72 processor cluster) and software contingent to faculty research interests. Available software for molecular electronic structure calculations include GAMESS, Gaussian, and a local code “undmol”; Molecular Dynamics; and programs for Monte Carlo and Hybrid Monte Carlo simulations.

Libraries on the UND campus house excellent collection of chemistry journals, series and textbooks providing support for up-to-date research. In addition to holdings, these libraries subscribe to numerous online journals and powerful literature search engines that are accessible from any network connection on campus. The Department is also fortunate to have direct access to the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences, which subscribes to additional journals and serials dedicated to areas of biological chemistry.