The Chemistry Department of St. Joseph’s College, established in 1927, is the largest science department in the College. Over the last nine decades, the department has built up its reputation as one among the best in its field as far as imparting education in Chemistry is concerned. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate and Ph.D. programmes in Chemistry. At present, the Department has 30 vastly experienced, well qualified and highly dedicated faculty to mentor students and guide them.
The department aims to achieve global standards of quality in maintaining academic excellence by being pro-active and open to new opportunities and challenges in frontiers of chemistry.The endeavour of the department is to produce brilliant young chemists who by their scientific knowledge skills and social commitment would act as catalysts to bring about positive changes for the benefit of humanity.
To promote among our learners the skills of analytical thinking, experimentation, and application of the knowledge gained.
• To promote the habit of scientific enquiry and research among our students.
• To create in our students a concern for the environment and develop appreciation for green chemistry.
• To prepare our students for life in the larger community.
The department has a well-established research centre equipped with modern scientific instruments. Some of the analytical facilities, the department is proud of having, includes AAS, GC, HPLC, PXRD, IC, AFM, spectrometers, emission spectrometer and electrochemical work stations.
The syllabus offered by the department at undergraduate level is aimed at providing the students with a strong foundation of the subject and making them proficient in all aspects both in theory and practicals so that they are ready to take up higher studies in Chemistry in any reputed institution in the world. There are two postgraduate courses offered by the department namely, Analytical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry.
The syllabi of both these courses are carefully designed to provide the students with a deep knowledge and keen insight into the advanced aspects and frontier areas of the subject. The curriculum for post graduate courses is aimed at enabling the students to develop the necessary analytical and practical skills so that they would be successful in any field that is related to Chemistry. Many of the alumni of the department have done remarkably well in the fields of academics, research and industry in India and abroad. The department also offers three electives at undergraduate level and one elective at postgraduate level for CBCS.
The research groups of the department are engaged in highly productive research work in some of the important areas of Chemistry such as catalysis, materials chemistry, electrochemistry, and biochemistry. They have been publishing their work in reputed national and international journals of high impact factor. The total number of research articles published is over 200. Many students have obtained their Ph.D. and M.Phil. degree from the Department of Chemistry. Over the past 25 years, the faculty of chemistry have received financial assistance for their research work from local industries as well as from the Government funding bodies such as UGC, DST, SERB, CSIR and BNRS. The total amount of research grants so far received is over rupees 3.5 crores. The Department of Chemistry is a recognized research centre of Bangalore University to carry out research leading to the award of Ph.D. degree. St. Joseph’s college, in fact, was the first College to be recognized as a research centre of Bangalore University among its affiliated colleges. Currently, five members of the staff have been recognized as research guides. The research scholars have won many awards for their presentations at the national/international conferences. The department has been promoting undergraduate research through the term paper for the final year degree students. In order to inculcate research interest in the postgraduate students, the department has introduced research-based project work in the PG curriculum. The department has established a tie-up with industries for the students to do their research projects. Many of these student projects have been published in reputed journals and/or presented in National/international conferences. The department has implemented RBPT (research-based pedagogical tools) to introduce research as a pedagogical tool to build an environment for the learner to promote inquiry-based learning. The Basic idea is to promote learners to think beyond the textbooks and do some research to understand the concept in a more concrete way.
Over the years, the department has conducted several national and state-level seminars and workshops on frontier areas of chemistry for the benefit of the discerning students, faculty, and research scholars. The department boasts of vibrant UG and PG Chemical Societies abuzz with co-curricular activities such as organizing and participating in lectures by eminent scientists, inter-collegiate chemistry festivals, educational trips, and science exhibitions. Under the aegis of the department, Chemical Society has successfully organized lectures of eminent scientists, Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, Prof. CNR Rao and Nobel laureate Prof. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan. The good work of the department has been recognized by DBT and DST through the award of DBT- STAR and DST-FIST funding. The department has established research collaborations with national and international laboratories and institutes. The faculty of the department have travelled extensively in India and abroad to deliver invited talks at National and International conferences.