Chemistry Department

The Department of Chemistry was established in 1951 (under Agra University, Uttar Pradesh) and became part of Kumaun University in 1973. Apart from being one of the most prestigious departments in the country that runs M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes, it also offers courses in basic chemistry to undergraduate students. Some of the notable topics of research being undertaken by the faculty include topics from the fields of chemistry of natural products, soil chemistry, chemical kinetics, chemical evolution, nanomaterials and development of technology for waste plastic management, among several others. Not only is the expertise of the Department in above areas well recognized, the department is also well equipped with modern analytical facilities like GC, GC/MS, HPLC and FT-IR, DMS, TGA with financial assistance from NMHS projects and DST-FIST programme to enable research feasibility and continuity. The Departmental library which is a Student’s Aid-Fund library acts as student’s own library to cater to the domain-specific needs of postgraduate and research students of the Department. The department not only organizes various guest lecture series by eminent scientists/professors for P. G. students but has also conducted several seminars, symposia, workshops and refresher courses. Officials from various pharmaceutical companies are invited to the Department for campus recruitment of final semester PG students as chemists. The teaching faculty of the Department has several major and minor research projects from UGC, CSIR, UCOST, USERC, DST and GBPI- IERP which have produced novel results. Having always been proactive towards its role in environmental sustainability, the department has developed new technology to transform waste plastic into useful products including graphine, a work that was recognized by the central government. The department is also involved in the waste management and working with Municipal Board of Nainital city.