Cluster focus

The Chemistry Cluster is designed to foster innovation and broaden the interdisciplinary research and teaching depth of the Department of Chemistry by creating expertise in newly emerging areas of chemistry. Chemistry has changed dramatically during the last decade as research in the four traditional areas (analytical, inorganic, organic and physical) has overlapped and newly emerging areas outside the typical realms of a chemistry department have developed, such as biological chemistry, chemical engineering and materials science.

Cluster accomplishments

  • The cluster faculty’s new expertise in biological chemistry, environmental chemistry and computational chemistry has fostered interdisciplinary research in chemical engineering, biological engineering and bacteriology.
  • Cluster faculty are involved in a number of interdisciplinary grants with faculty across campus, including the UW-Madison Center for Nanotechnology, a National Science Foundation on Collaborative Research in Chemistry and a Department of Energy grant.
  • The Chemistry Cluster has helped change the way the department hires new faculty, with several recent hires focused on key growth areas identified in the original cluster proposal and based on the collaborative nature of the campus Cluster Hire Initiative.
  • The cluster has fostered greater interdisciplinary thinking in the department, helping to spark the development of an active materials chemistry PhD program as well as a new materials chemistry seminar series.
  • Cluster faculty have incorporated techniques from the biological sciences into the laboratory components of their undergraduate chemistry courses.
  • The faculty are involved in the Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy and helped to bring Oxygen, a play written by a famous chemist who earned his doctorate from UW-Madison in 1945, to the University Theater, as well hosting a special Oxygen Symposium in 2003.
  • Both cluster hires have won awards for their scholarly work, including a Research Corporation Research Innovation Award, a Shaw Scientist Award, a Camille Dreyfus Teaching-Scholar Award, the 3M Non-tenured Faculty Award, a Sloan Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Early Career Award.

Cluster structure

The cluster strengthened the Department of Chemistry by helping to develop critical mass in newly emerging areas of interdisciplinary research of interest to faculty throughout the campus. As such, the cluster faculty regularly collaborate with faculty across campus as well as participate in regular Department of Chemistry meetings and seminars.

Cluster coordinator, faculty and lead dean

Two faculty positions were approved.

Cluster Coordinator

  • Jim Skinner, Professor and Chair, Department of Chemistry

Cluster Faculty

Lead Dean