The University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry is part of an unusually rich scientific environment.
For the student in biological or organic chemistry, the resources of the Biology Department are available, as are those of the School of Medicine just across the street with basic research groups in biochemistry and biophysics. The Wistar Institute and the School of Veterinary Medicine are only a few blocks away. In Philadelphia there are three other medical schools: Drexel, Jefferson, and Temple, all having active research programs in areas of interest to biological and organic chemists. The Institute for Cancer Research in Fox Chase, and the Monell Chemical Senses Center, an institute concerned with aspects of taste and smell, are also close to Penn.
Of interest to inorganic, physical, structural, and synthetic chemists are nearby materials research laboratories which provide a valuable source for collaboration and research facilities. In particular, the Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM) supports many collaborative projects between the chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, and physics departments. This is a very rich environment for graduate study, and a number of Chemistry students are actually based in the LRSM building. Many of our faculty, through the Materials Research aspects of their interests, extensively use the central research facilities at LRSM.