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07-13-2026
Join our Group
The Institute for Green Science (IGS) at Carnegie Mellon University, led by Dr. Terrence J. Collins, is currently seeking highly talented, motivated, and mission-driven graduate and undergraduate students to join our multidisciplinary research team. If you are passionate about using fundamental chemistry to solve pressing global environmental and public health challenges, IGS provides an unparalleled environment to make a real-world impact.
What We Do: Real-World Sustainability Through Advanced Oxidation
The Collins Lab is the birthplace of TAML (Tetraamido Macrocyclic Ligand) activators—a revolutionary class of small-molecule mimics of peroxidase enzymes. Our core mission is to design, understand, and deploy safe, sustainable chemical technologies that can eliminate toxic substances from our planet's water supplies.
Students in our lab engage in cutting-edge research across several key areas:
- Water Purification & Micropollutant Destruction: We design TAML/peroxide systems capable of hunting down and completely mineralizing trace pharmaceuticals, pesticides (like neonicotinoids), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wastewater.
- Mechanistic Inorganic Chemistry: Researching the kinetics, thermodynamic properties, and reactive intermediates (like high-valent iron complexes) of our catalysts using advanced spectroscopic tools.
- Green Chemistry Design & Safety Metrics: Ensuring that the technologies we build are inherently non-toxic by evaluating them against strict environmental and endocrine-disrupting safety criteria.
Who We Are Looking For
- Graduate Students: Individuals looking to develop deep expertise in synthetic inorganic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, kinetics, and sustainable design.
- Undergraduate Researchers: Dedicated CMU students majoring in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, or Environmental Science who want hands-on bench experience and the opportunity to be an author/co-author in peer-reviewed publications.
Whether your strengths lie in organic synthesis, computational modeling, or analytical tracking (UV-Vis, HPLC, Mass Spectrometry), there is a place for your skills to grow here.
How to Apply
If you want to push the boundaries of what catalysts can do while advocating for a toxin-free future, we want to hear from you.
- Graduate Applicants: Please email Dr. Collins directly with your CV, a brief statement of your research interests, and your availability for a meeting. All applications must go through CMU's common application portal and are subject to selection by the graduate committee. IGS is not responsible for any selection into graduate programs.
- Undergraduate Applicants: Send a copy of your unofficial transcript and a short paragraph detailing why you are interested in green chemistry and how many hours per week you can dedicate to lab work.
Contact:
Dr. Terrence J. Collins
Email: tc1u@andrew.cmu.edu
Office:
Mellon Institute 710
Carnegie Mellon University