Picking the lab you'll work in during your graduate experience is a pretty major decision and shouldn't be taken lightly. This isn't meant to intimidate you, but instead make sure you understand the importance of taking your time and really finding the best fit for you. It's a common metaphor to compare this decision to marriage, and so by the same vein think of the first few months of your time here as "dating around". You might have read up on a few labs online and think you've already got it figured out before you even start, but you can (and should) still talk to other labs. Ask questions, talk to other grad students, read their recent papers, attend their talks. If you're not comfortable with your decision at the beginning, those feelings will likely only continue to grow with the stress of grad school.
So, here are some questions or topics to think about when you're talking to PIs or grad students:
What is the current research? A lot of times you'll read a paper from 5 or 6 years ago and it might sound super exciting, but that project is finished and they're working on things completely different now
What would your day-to-day look like? Would you be in a lab all day long or are there going to be large periods of time spent in front of a computer? What sort of time commitment is expected of you?
What is the mentoring style of the PI? Some advisors are very hands on, and some will only check in on you occasionally unless you come to them first. Both methods are great, but not every student will do well under both, so try and think of where you will best thrive.
What are the current lab members like? These are the people you'll be with all day everyday for 2-5 years, it's important that you can get along and enjoy your time with them!
What are the alumni of the lab doing now? This will help you figure out if the PI has experience helping someone navigate the same career path you're interested in, and can help provide you with some great connections in the future.
What is expected of you when you join this lab? Some labs will have more rigid schedules with an expectation of how long you'll be in the lab every day, while others just want to see you occasionally. Some labs have publication and presentation expectations. It's important to discuss this before you join so you can be successful in that lab.
What is the publication average of a student in that lab and field? Will you be graduating with 10 publications, or only 2? Is that standard for the field, or is it higher/lower because of the PI requirements? Will that help you with your future career goals? It's important to think about this when you're choosing a lab. Some groups have a high volume of high-impact papers, and they're able to finish projects much faster. Some groups have projects where it might take a few years to get enough data for a single publication.
Current Labs in Our Department
We understand it can be hard sometimes to navigate through the directories of PIs and their lab websites, so we've compiled a list of the labs currently on campus with a very brief summary of what they do. If anyone piques your interest, you can find more info by looking for their recent publications or emailing them directly to ask your questions.
Organic
Jung-Mo Ahn We make small organic molecules to inhibit protein functions by computational design and organic synthesis. Currently, we are targeting breast and prostate cancers with these structure-based drug design approach. Michael Biewer Vladimir Gevorgyan Synthetic organic chemistry Filippo Romiti We are pursuing the total synthesis of complex bioactive molecules through the development of innovative synthesis strategies and high-impact catalytic transformations. Ronald Smaldone We study non-covalent and dynamic covalent interactions for applications in 3D printing and porous polymers.
Inorganic
Kenneth Balkus Materials chemistry applications in membranes, energy storage, drug delivery, catalysis, and sensors.
Biochemistry
Sheena D'Arcy We are interested in the structure and function of large protein complexes, particularly those containing nucleic acids (RNA or DNA). We have expertise in mass spectrometry and chromatin biochemistry. Sheel Dodani Engineering anion-protein interactions to study fundamental coordination chemistry and build functional imaging tools. Projects are based on protein engineering, protein biochemistry, spectroscopy, and imaging/cell biology. Warren Goux Studies of amyloid related to Alzheimer's disease and using amyloid to kill cancer cells. Gabriele Meloni We develop a research program devoted at elucidating the mechanisms of transport, reactivity, and coordination chemistry of essential and toxic transition metals, as well as metal-based complexes utilized as anti-cancer drugs. Current research areas include: 1) the structure and function of transmembrane metal transporters; 2) the bioinorganic and radical chemistry of metal-protein and protein-membrane interactions in the central nervous system; 3) the molecular principles of metal-based drug reactivity towards metalloproteins. Allison Stelling The Stelling Lab uses solution state bioanalytical methods, with a focus on vibrational spectroscopy, to probe molecular interactions in proteins and nucleic acids.
Steven Nielsen Two current research projects are as follows: (1) Design of new energy efficient engineered surfaces for the condensation of low surface tension fluids for refrigeration and air-conditioning applications; (2) Development of novel photosensitive nano-vesicles to enable neuropeptide release in deep brain regions. Hedieh Torabifard Computational studies of membrane export proteins and bio-based ionic liquids. Andrés Cisneros Three main research directions in our lab are the investigation of enzymatic reaction mechanisms using MD and hybrid ab initio QM/MM methods. The second focus is on the discovery and characterization of cancer biomarkers. The third focus is on the development of new software for polarizable ab initio QM/MM and classical simulations.
Other
Jeremiah GassensmithInterdisciplinary Intersection of solid state chemistry and biomaterials. Mihaela StefanPolymers/Materials Organic and polymer chemistry, drug delivery, organic electronics, and catalysis. John FerrarisPolymers/Materials My research groups mainly devoted to novel polymers and carbon structures for gas separations and energy storage. We design systems with controlled porosity tailored to the application at hand. Students are exposed to synthesis, device fabrication, and performance evaluation.