Overview
American University was founded as a Methodist institution, chartered by Congress in 1893. The University is located on an 84-acre site in a residential area of northwest Washington, D.C. As a member of the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Area, AU can offer its degree candidates the option of taking courses at other consortium universities for residence credit.

Graduates of the master's and doctoral programs in chemistry have successful professional careers in major corporations, such as Hewlett-Packard, Pitney Bowes, Nestlé, Johnson & Johnson, Gillette, TIGR, and Celera. They have also been employed by government laboratories such as the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Naval Research Laboratory, Department of Engraving and Printing, U.S. Geological Survey, and Environmental Protection Agency.

The Community
The national capital area offers students opportunities for practical applications of theoretical studies through research, internships, and part-time jobs. Local bus, subway, and rail transportation from the campus provides easy access to sites in the greater metropolitan area.

Programs of study and degree requirements
Accredited by the American Chemical Society, the Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences serves the University and the region as a center for study and research. It offers advanced degrees to both full-time and part-time graduate students, with master's and doctoral programs that provide a blend of theoretical and applied chemistry. The Ph.D. degree provides a solid foundation for all aspects of a career in chemistry, whether in academia, government, or industry. The primary focus of the doctoral degree is independent research, and many Ph.D. chemists' initial positions are in research. Students in the M.S. in chemistry program may design a course of study that allows them to upgrade current skills or to explore a new facet. This degree prepares graduate students for careers in various areas of research, development, education, and administration or study at the doctoral level. The thesis requirement expands laboratory skills to give students better preparation for entry into the job market. The M.S. in toxicology is an interdisciplinary degree offered jointly by the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biology. This degree prepares graduate students for careers in various areas of research, development, and administration. There is no thesis requirement.

Facilities & Resources
The Bender Library and Learning Resources Center houses more than 745,000 volumes, 3,500 periodical titles, extensive microform collections, and a nonprint media center. More than fourteen indexes in compact disc format are searchable using library microcomputers. Graduate students have unlimited borrowing privileges at six other university libraries in the Washington Research Library Consortium. All are accessible through the online catalog. Microcomputer resources can be used 24 hours a day at various campus locations. The Beeghly Chemistry Building houses 32,000 square feet of laboratories and workshops, as well as an animal room, a cold room, and a stockroom. Students may use spectrometers covering the ultraviolet and visible region, as well as Fourier-transform infrared, 400-MHz nuclear magnetic resonance, and fluorescence spectrometers; gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer; gas and high-pressure liquid chromatographs; a supercritical fluid chromatograph; light-scattering equipment; a differential scanning calorimeter; an atomic absorption spectrometer; and biochemical facilities. The University also offers special research opportunities with noted professionals in private and government laboratories. The department's computer room has a number of IBM personal computers equipped with up-to-date software and connection to chemical literature databases as well as connection to the Internet and the Web.

Expenses and Aid
Costs: For is $1,448 per credit hour.

Financial Aid: Fellowships, scholarships, and graduate assistantships are available to full-time students. Special opportunity grants for minority group members parallel the regular honor awards. Research and teaching fellowships provide stipends plus tuition. Graduate assistantships provide up to 18 credit hours of tuition remission per year. The department has a number of graduate awards that are available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, including the National Science Foundation Traineeships in Environmental Chemometrics, graduate assistantships in areas of national need, and several departmental research and teaching assistantships and fellowships. For international graduate students, American offers the Hall of Nations Scholarship, which is awarded to top international students, and the Department of Chemistry offers research and teaching assistantships and fellowships to some international students upon completion of their first year.

Housing/Living Expenses: The University offers a limited number of off-campus graduate apartments. The Off-Campus Housing Office maintains a referral file of rooms and apartments. Housing costs in Washington, D.C., are comparable to those in other major metropolitan areas.

How to Apply
The College of Arts and Sciences uses a rolling application process. However, for international applicants, it is highly recommended that completed applications for the fall semester are submitted by June 1 for accurate processing. Applications for students who want to be considered for merit awards must be received by February 1. Online or downloadable application forms may be obtained on the Web at http://www.american.edu/cas/admissions. The cost to apply is $50 for the online application submitted electronically or $80 for the paper-based application submitted by mail, including those that are downloaded. Admission consideration is open to all qualified candidates without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or handicap.

Frederick W. Carson, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Chicago (e-mail: fcarson@american.edu). Modeling of proteins that are AIDS vaccine candidates or drug targets using molecular mechanics.
Theoretical studies of relaxation of a monomeric subunit of HIV-1 protease in water using molecular dynamics. Proteins: Struct., Funct., Genet. 15:374–84, 1993. With Venable and Brooks.

Albert M. Cheh, Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley (e-mail: acheh@american.edu). DNA damage by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and water chlorination products; the relationship between chemical structure DNA sequence and DNA damage.
Preferential misincorporation of purine nucleotides by human DNA polymerase eta opposite benzo[a]pyrene 7,8-diol 9,10-epoxide deoxyguanosine adducts. J. Biol. Chem., in press. With Chiapperino et al.

Kelley Donaghy, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Pennsylvania (e-mail: kdonaghy@american.edu). Boron hydride chemistry and solid state materials.
Reactions of 1,1'-bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene with boranes, thiaboranes, and carboranes. Inorg. Chem. 36:547–53, 1997. With Carroll and Sneddon.

Hassan S. El Khadem, Isbell Professor (Emeritus); D.Sc., London. Carbohydrate and medicinal chemistry.
The reaction of phenylhydrazine with squaric acid: A model for carbohydrate osazone formation. Carbohydr. Res. 239:85–93, 1993. With Shalaby, Coxon, and Fatiadi.

James E. Girard, Professor; Ph.D., Penn State (e-mail: jgirard@american.edu). Separations: HPLC, ion chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography, capillary electrophoresis; environmental analysis: mass spectrometry and LC-MS; DNA analysis: MALDI-TOF, MS, PNA probes.
NIST-sponsored interlaboratory comparison of polystyrene molecular mass distribution obtained by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry: Statistical analysis. Anal. Chem. 73:1252–62, 2001. With Guttman et al.

Derek Horton, Isbell Professor; Ph.D., D.Sc., Birmingham (England); Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chemistry, London (e-mail: carbchm@american.edu).
Synthetic explorations toward 3-deoxy-3-fluoro derivatives of D-perosamine. Carbohydr. Res. 334:195–205, 2001. With Poirot, Chang, and Ková[hacek c]'.

Lou (LaVelma) Thompson Hughes, Research Professor; Ph.D., Cornell (e-mail: luhug@speck.niddh.nih.gov). Biophysical studies of the structure and function of DNA/metal complexes, antibiotics, peptide hormones, and proteins. Nitric oxide cheletropic traps (NOCTs) with improved thermal stability and water solubility. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116:2767–77, 1994. With Korth et al.

Monika Konaklieva, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., SUNY at Buffalo (e-mail: mkonak@american.edu). Synthetic organic chemistry.
Studies of non-conventionally fused bicyclic beta-lactams. J. Org. Chem. 63:8898–917, 1998. With Ren et al.

Jan Kutina, Research Professor; C.Sc., Karlova (Prague) (e-mail: jkutina@american.edu). Locating possible ore deposits; nature of chemical processes of ore deposits, ore microscopy.
The role of transregional mantle-rooted structural discontinuities in the concentration of metals: With examples from the United States, China, Uzbekistan, Burma, and other countries. Global Tectonics Metallogeny 7:159–82, 2001.

Anh Le, Associate Research Professor; Ph.D., American (e-mail: lea@oasys.dt.navy.mil). Physical and organic chemistry.
A comparative corrosion study of titanium and copper-nickel alloys. Proceedings of Tri-Service Conference, Atlantic City, NJ, 1989. With Dust.

Olivier Marcq, Assistant Professor; Ing., INSA Rouen (France); Ph.D., Burgundy (France) (e-mail: omarcq@american.edu). Carbohydrates oxidation, synthetic organic chemistry.
The origin and significance of carbon dioxide production during the ozonization of 13C-labeled D-glucose at different pH values. Carbohydr. Res. 333:233–40, 2001. With Barbe, Trichet, and Guilard.

Charles D. Pibel, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley (e-mail: cpibel@american.edu). Photochemistry and spectroscopy of electronically excited atoms and molecules.
The hydrolysis of chlorine nitrate on ice is autocatalytic. J. Phys. Chem. A 105:4940, 2001. With Geiger and Hicks.

Paul F. Waters, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Rutgers. Polymer chemistry/physical chemistry, polymers applied to environmental problems, drag reduction and fuels efficiency.

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