About SCS

The School of Chemical Sciences (SCS) serves as the service unit for the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. 

The school supports the academic, research, and operational needs of each department by providing support services including student advising, research service facilities, business office operations, information technology (IT), human resources (HR), and management of the Chemical Storeroom. 

Each year, the faculty and staff of the School of Chemical Sciences participate in multiple committees dedicated to improving operational effectiveness and service delivery. In addition, each service facility has a faculty advisor who works closely with staff to ensure that the needs of the School, as well as those of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Department of Chemistry, are met.

Research Service Facilities

The School of Chemical Sciences supports research and instructional facilities in five buildings: 

  • Chemical and Life Sciences Laboratory (CLSL), which houses many research laboratories and faculty offices.
  • Chemistry Annex which houses most of the general chemistry instructional laboratories.
  • Davenport Hall which houses research laboratories.
  • Roger Adams Laboratory (RAL) which houses the administrative offices of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and many research laboratory spaces and faculty offices.
  • William Albert Noyes Laboratory (NL), which houses the Chemistry library, numerous classrooms and instructional laboratory spaces, and the administrative offices of the School of Chemical Sciences and the Department of Chemistry.

Research service facilities and technical shops operate in Noyes Lab and Roger Adams Lab.

See our research page to learn more about our research laboratories and services.

A BRIEF History of SCS

The Department of Chemistry has a long history, dating back to the founding of the University, then known as the Illinois Industrial University.  The Department has a number of historical documents on their website.  

In the spring of 1970, the Board of Trustees approved a motion to change the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering into the School of Chemical Sciences, with three new departments: Biochemistry, Chemistry, and Chemical Engineering.  This change was approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education in September, 1970.  

According to the summer 1970 Alumni Newsletter, this change "will enable each department to develop its own special interests while retaining close relations within the school".  

  • Prof. H.S. Gutowski, head of the former Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, was named the first Director of the School of Chemical Sciences and also Head of the Department of Chemistry.
  • Prof. James Westwater, who had previously headed the Division of Chemical Engineering, was named the first Head of the Department of Chemical Engineering.
  • Prof. Lowell Hager, who had previously headed the Division of Biochemistry, was named the first Head of the Department of Biochemistry.  

In 2000, the Department of Biochemistry left the School of Chemical Sciences and joined the newly formed School of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB).  An extensive history of MCB and how Biochemistry came to be part of it was published in the Spring 2013 MCB Magazine.

In 2002, the Department of Chemical Engineering became the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, reflecting the growing influence of genetic and biological research in the field of chemical engineering.