Chemistry (CHM) is a modern, dynamic and diverse field that involves investigating the substances that make up our physical world and how these substances change. Chemistry touches everything we come into contact with. As a result, it is a field with connections to almost all other areas of science and engineering. For example, chemists play a vital role in developing new drugs and materials for advanced electronic devices.
Chemists are also important players in such diverse areas as genetic engineering, forensic science and the oil and gas industry. More recently, chemists have been at the forefront of the nanotechnology field and emerging green technologies, particularly in the development of sustainable energy sources.
The Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences offers modern programs that provide advanced training in the traditional areas of chemistry, such as organic, inorganic, physical, computational and analytical chemistry. The Department also has specialized options in Advanced Materials and in Ecochemistry, unique to uOttawa. In addition to incorporating classroom teaching, programs offer practical laboratory training, with a focus on individual instruction.
This interdisciplinary program, offered through the Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, combines basic studies from areas such as molecular biology, biochemistry, pharmacology and organic chemistry and adds new courses designed especially for biopharmaceutical science (BPS) students.
The goal is to prepare students who, with further specialization, will be ready to work in an interdisciplinary environment at the interfaces between biology, chemistry and health-related sciences.
The Biochemistry program is a highly interdisciplinary program combining chemistry and biology that trains students to understand the molecular basis of life. Students learn about how biologically important molecules like proteins, DNA, RNA, and drugs interact at a molecular level and how these interactions impact healthy and diseased cells.
The biochemistry program provides advanced training in all areas of biochemistry and has specialized options in biotechnology, microbiology and immunology, as well as emerging areas in biochemistry such as chemical biology and synthetic biology. In addition to classroom teaching, the biochemistry program has a significant laboratory component giving students individual, cutting-edge training in practical biochemistry.
Our graduates are highly sought after and many find employment directly after graduation in wide ranging fields from food industry to diagnostic medicine and the green economy. The program is also ideal training for those interested in graduate studies such as MSc or PhD and those interested in health professional school training like medical school.
