The Chemistry and Geosciences Department spans two campus buildings. The Chemistry program is housed in the 163,000 sq. ft., $27.9 million Hugh C. Bailey Science Center. Opened in 2001 and later expanded in 2012, the Bailey Science Center contains all Chemistry faculty offices, teaching labs, research labs, support facilities, and several classrooms. 

The Geosciences program is located in Nevins Hall and includes all Geology and Geography faculty offices, teaching labs, research labs, and many displays of fossils and minerals.

The Chemistry and Geosciences Department maintains high-quality teaching and research laboratories.  A stockroom and several prep rooms support our students enrolled in teaching lab courses with glassware, equipment, and chemicals. Instrumentation labs, a roof-top greenhouse, and a walk-in cold room augment the research and teaching facilities. Dedicated computer labs are available for students to study and access advanced computational software which they use in courses and research.

Geosciences faculty maintain extensive, museum-quality fossil and mineral collections for both research and teaching. Geosciences students of all levels can access the Department's Geochemistry Research Laboratory and GIS Computer and printing lab. the GIS lab features its own server, 23 workstations, small scanner, 42-inch large-format scanner, printers, and a 42-inch plotter. Available software includes the complete Arc/Info and ArcView suites from ESRI as well as ERDAS Imagine. 

Our student study lounges and conference rooms promote collaborations and community.

All students, even in our first-year courses, gain hands-on experience using common lab instrumentation such as pH meters, colorimeters, and various chemical sensors. Research instrumentation is available for Chemistry and Geosciences majors to use in upper-level courses. Major instrumentation includes:

  • Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectrometry
    • Agilent 400 MHz FT NMR
    • Anasazi EFT-60 MHz FT NMR
  • Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrophotometry
    • Jasco FTIR 4600
    • Jasco FTIR 4100
    • Perkin-Elmer Spectra FTIR and Raman
    • LGR CCIA 36EP CO2 isotope analyzer
  • Ultraviolet-Visible (UV/vis) and Fluorescence Spectrophotometry
    • Shimadzu 3600 UV/vis Spectrophotometer
    • Jasco V-630 UV/vis/NIR Spectrophotometers
    • PTI LPS-220 Fluorimeter
  • Chromatography (GC and HPLC) and Mass Spectrometry
    • Shimadzu HPLC-MS
    • Agilent 1260 Infinity HPLC
    • Agilent 7890B GC
    • Agilent 5975C GCMS
    • HP 5971 GCMS
  • X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD)
    • Rigaku Miniflex Powder XRD
  • Elemental Analysis 
    • Thermo Scientific 3000 AA Spectrometer
  • Thermoanalysis
    • Perkin Elmer DSC 8000 
    • Perkin Elmer TGA 7 Thermogravimetric Analyzer

Other research equipment is shared with the Biology Department, also located in the Bailey Science Center. Machine shop and electronics shop facilities are available on campus.