Indiana State University - Chemistry and Physics

04/29/2026

Congratulations to Yang Tai!

10/31/2025

The College of Arts and Sciences is proud to recognize Professor Richard Fitch from the Department of Chemistry & Physics through the Thank-a-Prof initiative!

One student specifically thanked Dr. Fitch for always responding to emails, answering questions, and teaching chemistry in a way that this student understands!

Thank you, Dr. Fitch, for inspiring excellence and making a difference in the lives of Sycamores. 💙

11/28/2023

This Giving Tuesday, consider giving to the Department of Chemistry and Physics at ISU! Your generous gift will help support students in research and the instrumentation that our students use!

Read our newsletter for more info:

04/25/2023

Tuesday, April 25, 2023
Produced by University Communication |

Indiana State University is mourning the loss of its beloved colleague, Dr. Stephen F. Wolf.

Wolf was a veteran educator with decades of experience. He served ISU as a professor of analytical chemistry and cosmochemistry.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in chemistry in 1987 and a doctorate in analytical chemistry in 1993 from Purdue University. Wolf’s research interests focused on the development of methods for the determination of concentration and disposition of major, minor, and trace elements in meteorites. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including, Analytical Chemistry, Talanta, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, and Meteoritics and Planetary Science.

After working at Argonne National Laboratory, where he won the Argonne National Laboratory Pacesetter Award in 1997, Wolf’s passion shifted to the classroom. At Indiana State University, Wolf’s dedication to teaching chemistry won several prestigious accolades, including the Educational Excellence Award in 2005, Promising Scholar Award in 2007, and the Caleb Mills Distinguished Teaching Award in 2010.

Wolf’s visitation will be at Callahan & Hughes Funeral Home on Saturday, April 29, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. More information can be found https://www.callahanandhughes.com/obituary/stephen-wolf

All faculty, staff, and students at ISU send their thoughts and condolences to his friends and family.

10/21/2021

Chemistry and Physics is Participating in Homecoming! Come to the College of Arts & Sciences Open House outside of Stalker Hall on Saturday, 9:00-11:00 AM. Stop by the Chemistry & Physics table to meet the Chairperson, connect with other alumni, and play “Guess That Molecule.”

The Blue and White Homecoming Parade will begin at 9th and Cherry streets in downtown Terre Haute. The parade will run west on Wabash Avenue to 5th Street and will end at the intersection of 5th and Chestnut streets. Parade Map Linked (PDF)

03/26/2021

Congratulations Dr. Glendening!

Chemistry professor Dr. Eric Glendening is honored with Indiana State University's highest award for faculty. Congratulations to Dr. Eric Glendening for this achievement!
https://www2.indstate.edu/news/news.php?newsid=5430

03/03/2021

Tomorrow is ! I know that many have been directly impacted by the SURE program and you can give directly to the SURE program to help fund students!

Spread the word about Give to Blue Day and support Indiana State University on March 3, 2021!

09/07/2017

04/20/2017

ISU students recently traveled to the National American Chemical Society Meeting in San Francisco to present their research. Well done Patrick, JR, Juan, Rebecca, and Brogan!

03/13/2017

Prof. Guo-Ping Zhang recently published a paper where he demonstrated that it is possible to tilt ferromagnetic spins out of plane within 55 fs. Well done Dr. Zhang!

, a grand challenge is looming as how to read/write such a huge amount of data within a reasonable time. The ultrafast optical manipulation of magnetization offers a solution, but little is known about the intrinsic speed limit of quantum spin switching. Here, we report that low-energy 50-fs laser p...

03/10/2017

Prof. Guo-Ping Zhang recently published a paper with ISU students Arick Gardner, Tanner Latta, and Kyle Drake. They found some remarkably large and unusual molecular orbitals in the C60-pentacene complex, potentially boosting the performance of photovoltaic effects in organic solar cells. Well done Dr. Zhang!

We report a group of unusually big molecular orbitals in the ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$-pentacene complex. Our first-principles density-functional calculation shows that these orbitals are very delocalized and cover both ${\mathrm{C}}_{60}$ and pentacene, which we call superintermolecular orbitals (SIMOs)....