Department of Chemistry
Johns Hopkins University
3400 North Charles Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
http://chemistry.jhu.edu
chemdept@jhu.edu
(410)-516-7429
J
ohns Hopkins University is widely
regarded as one of the world’s finest research institutions. It comprises
an energetic community of students,
scholars, researchers, and scientists.
Each year, individuals from all over
the United States and many different
countries are drawn to the University by its reputation for outstanding achievements in academics and
research. Johns Hopkins University
is consistently ranked among the top
three universities in the country for
research funding as reported by U.S.
News and World Report.
Johns Hopkins University was the
first American institution to emphasize graduate education and to establish a Ph.D. program in chemistry.
Ira Remsen was the founding chair
who initiated a tradition of excellence in research and education that
has continued until this day.
Front cover:
Electron-induced proton transfer between HCl and NH3
yielding the ammonium chloride anion.
(Illustration by Maciej Haranczyk, from the February 15
issue of Science)
The Hopkins graduate program is
designed for students who desire a
Ph.D. in chemistry while advancing
scientific knowledge for humankind.
The program provides students with
the background and technical expertise required to be leaders in their
field and to pursue independent re-
A photolabile, biomimetic, non-heme {FeNO}7 complex with a
thiolate donor in the first coordination sphere and an unusual
S = ½ ground state.
search. Graduate students’ advancement is marked by entrance exams,
coursework, teaching, seminars, oral
examinations, and an individual research project that culminates in a
thesis dissertation.
Graduate Research in Chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University
The Department is made up of internationally recognized faculty involved in all areas of contemporary chemical science, including many
interdisciplinary areas interfacing chemistry with the fields of biology, medicine, physics, environment, nanotechnology, and materials.
There are currently about 120 graduate students, 22 postdoctoral associates and approximately 20 full-time faculty members. Achievements of the faculty in the Department are highlighted by many faculty awards including prestigious NSF, ACS, Dreyfus, Sloan, Cope,
and Cottrell Scholar awards. Graduate students and postdoctoral associates from Hopkins are highly successful in careers in industry,
national laboratories, and academics.
The thesis research project represents
an opportunity for graduate students
to make a mark on the world. Working in conjunction with a faculty
member or team, individually tailored thesis projects enable students
to think independently about cutting
edge research areas that are of critical importance. Thesis research is
the most important step toward becoming a Ph.D. scientist, and our
program provides an outstanding
base with a proven track record of
success.
All the research groups in the Department are housed in modern
laboratory facilities on the Homewood Campus. The new chemistry
building, completed in September of 2003, is a 44,300 square foot
building with state-of-the-art facilities for eight research groups. Adjacent to the new chemistry building is an underground High Field
Biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Center for biological research. The remainder of the Department is housed in Remsen Hall
that has superb modern laboratory space, while maintaining the architectural appeal of a 1925 building.
Graduate students make up the heart
of the Chemistry Department, and
the Department strives to support
students’ individual needs. Each student is carefully advised and classes
are traditionally quite small. Multidisciplinary research and course offerings are available to all students
that increase scientific breadth and
innovation.
The Department is well equipped with modern instrumentation, both
shared and in individual faculty research laboratories, to perform
Ph.D. chemical research. Hopkins graduate students take good advantage of the well-run facilities that provide state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation across the chemical sciences.
Biofilm growth on a polymer-carbon nanotube composite
surface.
The histone proteins in nucleosomes catalyze the cleavage of
damaged DNA and are themselves chemically modified.
Time-resolved IR data consistent with the mechanism shown for the photochemical generation of
HNO.
Ph. D. Program
The minimum course requirement for the Ph.D. program is eight one-semester graduate courses in chemistry or related sciences, which are usually completed within the first year. Students with interdisciplinary research interest often take courses
in other departments. Ph.D. candidates are also generally required to participate in a seminar series and give a research
presentation outside the scope of their Ph.D. topic.
Independent research with a faculty mentor is central to earning a Ph.D. degree. The choice of a research advisor and topic
occurs during the first semester. To aid in this process, faculty present brief seminars detailing their current activities to all
first year graduate students and meet individually with those that are keenly interested. Most students join a research group
and begin their independent research by the end of the fall semester.
Teaching also represents an important aspect of the Ph.D. program, and graduate students are required to teach two semesters as a teaching assistant. This provides an opportunity to improve communication skills and comprehensive knowledge
of chemistry while at the same time educating highly qualified undergraduate students.
The most important step towards a Ph.D. degree is the thesis preparation and defense that describes independent and original
research accomplishments. Students present their thesis research in an open departmental seminar that is typically followed
by a celebratory party.
Activities
As Johns Hopkins University’s main campus, the Homewood Campus provides students with
an environment that successfully balances academics and extracurricular activities. A strong
Student Activities Office oversees and advises over 160 student groups involved in cultural,
religious, recreation, sports, government and special interests.
Johns Hopkins is located within the city of Baltimore, a very livable and affordable east coast
city situated between Philadelphia and Washington DC. Most students live close to the Department but excellent public transportation allows easy commuting from many of Baltimore’s
fine neighborhoods. The city offers ample recreational and cultural activities.
The substrate iodotyrosine and cofactor flavin
mononucleotide establish multiple contacts in the
active site of iodotyrosine deiodinase to promote
dehalogenation.
The synthesis of an unusual acceptor-donor-acceptor (DA-D) small molecule prepared in the Klausen Lab. Materials
like this are record-setting organosilicon semiconductors.
Faculty
Kit Bowen - kbowen@jhu.edu
Professor Bowen’s research is centered on clusters,
aggregates of atoms and/or molecules held together
by intermolecular forces. The study of size-specific
and composition-specific clusters provides an incisive
means of addressing fundamental challenges in physical chemistry.
Art Bragg - artbragg@jhu.edu
Research in the Bragg Lab focuses on structural and
charge-transfer dynamics that underlie photochemical reaction dynamics and material photophysics. An
overarching goal is to elucidate relationships between
molecular or material structure and dynamics.
Paul Dagdigian - pjdagdigian@jhu.edu
Professor Dagdigian’s group investigates the dynamics of gas-phase collisional processes, in particular
nonreactive energy transfer processes in which rotational, vibrational, and/or electronic energy is exchanged with a collision partner. Dagdigian is also interested in the sensitive laser-based detection of trace
concentrations of molecules.
Howard Fairbrother - howardf@jhu.edu
Dr. Fairbrother’s research focuses on surface chemistry, with emphasis on the role of interfacial phenomena in (i) the deposition of nanostructured materials
and (ii) the applications and implications of engineered nanomaterials in the environment.
David P. Goldberg - dpg@jhu.edu
The Goldberg laboratory employs synthetic inorganic
chemistry to address questions regarding the reactivity and mechanism of heme- and non-heme Fe and Mn
centers in biology. Efforts include tuning the first- and
second-coordination sphere via ligand design, synthesizing high-valent metal-oxo and metal-peroxo
complexes, studying oxygen and nitric oxide binding and activation, and examining the fundamentals
of hydrogen-atom-transfer and oxygen-atom-transfer
processes.
Marc M. Greenberg - mgreenberg@jhu.edu
The Greenberg research group utilizes organic chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology to address
questions concerning the reactivity, function, structure, and uses of nucleic acids. Current projects include determining how nucleic acids are oxidatively
damaged, the consequences of DNA damage, as well
as the synthesis of DNA repair enzyme inhibitors and
radiosensitizing agents.
Kenneth D. Karlin - karlin@jhu.edu
Dr. Karlin’s bioinorganic research focuses on coordination chemistry relevant to biological, environmental
and industrial chemical processes, involving copper
or heme (porphyrin-iron) compounds. Of interest are
the formation of molecular oxygen or nitrogen-oxide
metal coordination complexes, their characterization,
and the study of their reactivity patterns including
with organic substrates.
Rebekka Klausen - rklause1@jhu.edu
Research in the Klausen group is at the intersection of
materials chemistry, chemical synthesis, and methods
development. The overriding goal is to develop the
chemistry to enable the next generation of organic and
organometallic electronic materials.
Thomas Lectka - lectka@jhu.edu
Research in the Lectka Group involves the development of fundamentally new catalytic reactions to
yield products of academic and pharmaceutical interest. Topical projects on the synthesis of theoretically
interesting nonnatural products are also underway.
Tyrel McQueen - mcqueen@jhu.edu
The aims of McQueen research are to: (i) discover
novel materials, (ii) design materials with specific
functions, and (iii) elucidate structure-property relationships in these materials. The overall goals are to
obtain a deep understanding of electronic and quantum behaviors in materials, and to exploit this knowledge in practical applications such as photovoltaic and
thermoelectric devices.
Steven Rokita - rokita@jhu.edu
Experimental approaches drawing from both the
chemical and biological sciences are combined in
the Rokita laboratory for mechanistic and structural studies of enzymes that process carbon-halogen bonds. In addition, the toxicological and
medicinal potential of covalent but reversible alkylation of biological targets is under investigation.
Justine P. Roth - jproth@jhu.edu
The group’s focus is on oxidation mechanisms of metalloproteins and inorganic compounds. Current interests range from sustainable energy production to the
biosynthesis of physiologically important molecules.
An overriding goal is to develop predictive models for
how enzyme structure impacts reactivity.
Harris Silverstone - hjsilverstone@jhu.edu
Professor Silverstone develops and applies convergent
and divergent expansion techniques — configuration
interaction, Rayleigh-Schrödinger perturbation theory,
JWKB and semi-classical quantum mechanics — to
understand structure, energy levels, spectra, and tunneling phenomena in quantum chemistry.
Joel Tolman - jtolman@jhu.edu
Tolman group research is focused on the
characterization of protein structure and dynamics
using NMR spectroscopy.
These techniques are
applied in combination with biochemical approaches
to the study of biomolecular interactions and function.
John Toscano - jtoscano@jhu.edu
Toscano group research is focused on the fundamental
chemistry and biochemistry of HNO. This one-electron
reduced and protonated congener of NO has recently
received significant attention, especially as a potential
alternative to current treatments of cardiac failure.
John Tovar - tovar@jhu.edu
The Tovar group has fundamental interests in electrically-conductive plastics and other types of π-conjugated
organic materials with emerging applications ranging
from inexpensive flexible circuitry to active biomedical materials.
Craig Townsend - ctownsend@jhu.edu
Townsend research interests are in the chemistry of
natural products and the interface of organic chemistry, biology and medicine: chemoenzymatic synthesis;
enzymology and molecular biology of polyketides and
beta-lactam antibiotics; drug design; and targets for
metaboic diseases.
David Yarkony - yarkony@jhu.edu
Yarkony research has developed tools for studying
conical intersections that define the state of the art in
advancing the computational description of the singular consequence of the separation of nuclear and electronic time scales.
Community Resources
Johns Hopkins University
http://www.jhu.edu
After more than 130 years, Johns Hopkins University remains a world leader in both teaching and research.
Eminent professors mentor top students in the arts and music, the humanities, the social and natural sciences,
international studies, education, business and the health professions. This world-class research institution is
located on a beautiful urban campus in a historic east coast city. Hopkins’s graduate students are distributed
among many academic units on campus:
Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences
G.W.C. Whiting School of Engineering
The School of Medicine
Carey Business School
Peabody Conservatory of Music
Bloomberg School of Public Health
School of Nursing
School of Education
Application Details
No formal degree is required for admission, although entering students usually hold a bachelor's or master's degree in chem-
istry or a related science. Applicants are asked to furnish transcripts of previous academic work, three letters of recommendation, and scores of Graduate Record Examinations, including the Advanced Chemistry Examination. The Department of
Chemistry encourages interested applicants to submit an online application (http://chemistry.jhu.edu/Graduate/prospective.
html).
Hopkins Chemistry Graduate students are provided financial support for the duration of their Ph.D. degrees. The first two
years’ financial support is typically from a teaching assistanceship (TA), and subsequent years are usually supported by a
Research Fellowship. The costs for health insurance, tuition, and a one time matriculation fee are all included in the financial support.
Baltimore
Hopkins’ Homewood Campus is located about 3 miles north of the Inner Harbor and downtown Baltimore city. The area
around the Homewood Campus is an attractive neighborhood in which to live and is typified by artistic brownstones, row
houses, and newer apartment buildings. Easily accessible by public transportation are alternative neighborhoods along the
water where students reside, such as Fells Point and Federal Hill. Harborplace, located along the scenic Inner Harbor, is a
striking collection of pavilions and promenades set at the water’s edge. The National Aquarium adjoins Harborplace as does
the Maryland Science Center. Fort McHenry, the site of the writing of the National Anthem, is just a few miles further south.
Other historic sites and museums are present in this vibrant city such as the Walters Art Museum, The Baltimore Museum
of Art, the B & O Railroad Museum, and the Babe Ruth Museum.
Throughout the year, a variety of festivals and special events occur in Baltimore. These include the annual running of the
Preakness Stakes, which is held just a few miles away from the Homewood Campus and is the second leg of thoroughbred
racing’s Triple Crown, the Baltimore Marathon, and Artscape, an arts festival.
Sports are big in Baltimore, whose professional football and baseball teams are the Ravens and Orioles. The North Baltimore Aquatic Club is close to campus and boasts Michael Phelps as a long time member. Lacrosse is also popular in
Maryland, and Hopkins has won many NCAA titles. The Lacrosse Museum and National Hall of Fame is located adjacent
to the Homewood campus.
Dependence
RNA structure on Raman
the magneUltrafastof time-resolved
measuresium
ion concentration..
ments
conducted in the Bragg Lab capture
signatures of conformational relaxation in
the conjugated polymer poly-(3-hexyl-thiophene) (P3HT) according to mode-specific
spectral dynamics.
In a search for new superconductors,
kinetic control of reactivity in the solid
state was used to produce K xNi2Se2 with
the highly unusual mixed valent Ni1.5+.
Contour plot (in cm-1) of the dependence of the
methyl-helium interaction energy upon the orientation of the helium atom at an atom-molecule
separation of 6 bohr.
Baltimore is conveniently located to other attractions in the mid-Atlantic region. Washington, D.C. is less than an hour away
by train and offers some of the best museums in the country. Philadelphia is about 2 hours north of Baltimore and New York
City is about 2 hours further. Within Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic shore provide many opportunities for
water sports, fishing, and boating. Just a few hours to the west is the Appalachian Trail and mountains with outstanding
hiking and camping.
Chemistry Graduate
Research at
Johns Hopkins
University