Why Choose Chemistry?

Chemistry is an exciting and diverse science that has relevance to hundreds of different industries and careers. A degree in chemistry is challenging and rewarding. You will spend a lot of time in the lab getting your hands dirty while doing experiments and seeing chemistry in action.
Our Faculty
Unlike what you may find at a large research institution, the chemistry faculty at Manhattan College offer each student personal attention and are focused on teaching exclusively undergraduate students. Our faculty are here because they are great teachers and because they love to teach. As a chemistry major, your courses will be taught by faculty members, never graduate students. And our small class sizes mean that you will really get to know your professors and they will get to know you, and how to best help you succeed.
State-of-the-Art Technology
The Kakos Center for Scientific Computing opened in 2014 and gives our students access to the same state-of-the-art technology used at the world’s top universities and research laboratories. It boasts a liquid-cooled 64GB high speed GNU/Linux server complete with four Tesla graphics processing units. Projects that our students and faculty use the Kakos Center for include:
- Developing algorithms
- Modeling 3D structures of molecules
- Solving equations that require high performance computing
Undergraduate Research
As an undergraduate student, you will have the opportunity to do hands-on research directly with a faculty member, an experience that students at larger institutions may not have until graduate school. Our students present their research work at local and national conferences, including the American Chemical Society Conference, where they can network with industry professionals.
Recent research projects include:
- Water remediation and applications of green synthetic technologies
- Natural product synthesis
- Solar energy conversion
- Environmentally friendly synthesis of bio-fuels
- Synthesis of ruthenium(II) and rhodium(III) complexes
- Structure and properties of zeolites
Thanks to expanded research funding, students can also apply to College-wide research programs like Jasper Research Scholars or Summer Fellows.