Faculty & Research
Facilities
Our research facilities are located in the Mellon Institute and include world-class instrumentation, computing and libraries. All of the instruments in the department are available for hands-on use, and training is made available to all students. Such ready access to advanced equipment constitutes an important part of the graduate education of Carnegie Mellon students.
Center for Molecular Analysis (CMA)
The Center for Molecular Analysis provides a facility for chemical characterization. The CMA creates an environment for collaborations among scientists both within and between departments.
Instruments in the CMA include:
- FTIR/NIR spectrometer (Thermo/ATI/Mattson 60AR) with a Remspec Mid-IR fiber optic immersion probe system.
- UV/VIS/NIR spectrometer (Perkin-Elmer Lambda 900) with Hellma fiber optic immersion probes. One probe allows for Visible work and the other probe allows for NIR work.
- MALDI/TOF mass spectrometer (PerSeptive Biosystems Voyager DE super-STR) with delayed extraction, two-meter flight tube and a reflectron for the analyses of both synthetic polymers and biomolecules of high molecular weight.
- Quadrupole field ion trap mass spectrometer (ThermoFinnigan LCQ) with electrospray (ESI) and atmospheric pressure ionization (APCI) sources.
- Diode Array UV-VIS (HP).
- CD (Jasco 715).
- HPLC Magic 2000–(Michrom Bioresources).
Two new Bruker NMR spectrometers: the 300 and 500 MHz Avance systems. We can perform Multinuclear and Multidimensional NMR Experiments in both Direct and Reverse Detection Mode using Gradient-Assisted Spectroscopy (GRASP). (Funded in part by NSF grant # CHE-9808188)
The CMA website includes further details, rates, and handles on-line reservations for instrument time. For further information, contact Mark Bier, mbier@andrew.cmu.edu, director of the CMA.
Spectroscopy and Other Instrumentation
Carnegie Mellon has traditionally been a major center for NMR research and has established an excellent research group in biophysical chemistry. Among the instruments used for characterization, in the CMA and elsewhere in the department are:
- A 500 MHz, two 600 MHz multinuclear, and two 300 MHz multinuclear spectrometers
- Modern gas and liquid chromatographs
- High resolution UV/vis absorption and fluorescence spectrometers
- Infrared spectrophotometers (Perkin-Elmer 580, Nicolet FT-IR)
- X-band IBM ER-300 EPR spectrophotometer with both X-band bridge and liquid nitrogen and liquid helium low-temperature capabilities
- An Aviv magnetic circular dichroism spectrophotometer
- Four light scattering photometers coupled with computer-based data acquisition systems
- Four rheometers with size exclusion chromatographs, a differential scaning calorimeter, differential refractometers, and member osmometers.
Computing Facilities
The department offers web space, fileserver space, and backups for both individuals and research groups. Research groups involved in computational chemistry have access to our parallel computing resources, mostly dual-Xeon and dual-P4 linux machines with gigabit interconnects running MPI. These research areas include quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, molecular dynamics, biophysics, solid-state physics, nuclear chemistry and X-ray crystallography.
The department also has access to some of the fastest computers in academia at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), which is also located in the Mellon Institute. The university provides excellent network access through 802.11b wireless connectivity throughout the campus, as well as dialup and VPN support for accessing campus resources from home. Computing support is provided both university wide and within the department.
Facilities for education in the application of computational methods to problems in science are also available to faculty and students in the Chemistry Department. Together with the Department of Biological Sciences and the PSC, the department runs a facility specifically designed for training in the use of computers for research in chemistry, biology and physics. This facility, funded partially through grants from the Howard Hughes Foundation and the National Science Foundation, includes a "computer classroom" with 25 Silicon Graphics workstations. Students taking classes in computational chemistry and biology, as well as specialized computational workshops, utilize this unique facility to gain experience in the design and application of software for the modeling and display of diverse phenomena in chemistry, physics and biology.
Libraries
The Mellon Institute Library, located in the same building as the Chemistry Department, provides convenient access to over 90,000 volumes and journals. The nearby Engineering and Science Library holds an additional 300,000+ volumes (includes both journals and other materials). Finally, Carnegie Mellon faculty and students may use the University of Pittsburgh libraries just a few blocks away.