A strong seminar program is vital to the ongoing development of both faculty and graduate students. The UMass-Amherst chemistry departmental seminar program features cutting-edge research by internationally renowned speakers, with strong support by alumni and industrial sponsors.

The Chemistry Department is one of hosts of the Five-College Lecture Series, one of the premier intercollegiate lecture series in our area, which hosts visits to UMass-Amherst and the local four colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Mt. Holyoke, Smith). Recent Five-Collge lecturers have have included many distinguished scientists from universities and companies around the country. The department also is pleased to host a number of high-profile, sponsored seminar series. The William E. Mahoney Seminar in Chemistry (2000) by the well-known emeritus director of the Connecticut Forensics Laboratory, Dr. Henry Lee, followed in 2001 by Nobel Laureate Professor Dudley Herschbach of Harvard. The Stein-Bayer seminar series sponsored by Bayer Corporation in honor of Professor Emeritus Richard Stein has seen distinguished speakers such as Dr. Robert Langer of MIT in 2000 and ACS President-elect Elsa Reichmanis of Bell Labs in 2002. The Procter & Gamble seminar series, likewise, supported high-quality speakers such h as Professor Donald Hunt of University of Virginia (UMass Ph.D. '67) in 2000, and Professor John G. Dorsey of Florida State in 2001.

In addition to the named lectures and regular seminar speakers who visit the department, the chemical and biological sciences at UMass-Amherst also feature strong seminar series in the Departments of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Chemical Engineering, and Polymer Science & Engineering.

Most seminars are held on Thursdays at 11:15 AM. Our full seminar schedule is available here.