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Through courses and lab work that promote collaboration and active learning, Stanford’s undergraduate program in chemistry teaches fundamental concepts key to advancing the molecular sciences. The department’s mission is to explore and advance new chemical frontiers in the life sciences, physical sciences, medicine, energy, and materials and environmental sciences through collaborative research and scholarship.

Undergraduate and graduate students have opportunities to work with leading faculty who study atomic and molecular systems, create new forms of matter, and develop experimental and theoretical tools to understand and control the behavior of electrons, atoms, molecules, and materials for the benefit of science and society.

View highlights of the chemistry department's undergraduate offerings.

Graduate joint degree offered: MD/PhD

The Department of Applied Physics focuses on solving technological and scientific challenges through the lens of physics. The department has a long tradition of building tools, from solid-state lasers to the atomic force microscope, with many advances becoming foundational in new fields of research and industries. Applied Physics has four main research areas: nano science and quantum engineering, lasers and particle accelerators, condensed matter physics, and experimental and theoretical biophysics.

Through collaboration and joint appointments with electrical engineering, biology, chemistry, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, faculty and graduate students work on innovative concepts in foundational and applied physics that advance the boundaries of science.

The Stanford Biophysics Program is an interdisciplinary, interdepartmental graduate training program that leads to a doctoral degree. It brings together faculty from more than a dozen departments in the Schools of Humanities and Sciences, Medicine, and Engineering, as well as the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory. Research in Biophysics applies the principles of chemistry and physics to solving biological problems with the help of the latest methodologies, such as computational biology and molecular analysis.

The program trains students to approach biological problems quantitatively. With the benefit of advanced coursework and exceptional facilities—including the Lucas Center for Imaging, which houses multiple whole-body MRI systems—students develop the skills needed to direct their own research to address critical problems in the field.