phd chemistry gsu

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Graduate Programs

Georgia state university - graduate admissions.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Bingchen Yu

Assistant Professor

Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University​

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 404-413-5498

Office Address: NSC 549, 46 Decatur St. SE, Atlanta, GA 

Lab Address: NSC 546 and NSC 518

Academic Background:

2010-2014 B.S., Shandong University

2014-2018 Ph.D., Georgia State University

2019 Postdoc, Georgia State University

2020-2023 Postdoc, University of California, San Francisco

2023-present Assistant Professor, Georgia State University

Dr. Bingchen Yu graduated from Shandong University in China in 2014 with a B.S. degree in Pharmaceutical Science. He then received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry in Georgia State University (GSU). His Ph.D. work in Prof. Binghe Wang’s lab in the Department of Chemistry at GSU focused on prodrug development for hydrogen sulfide and persulfide species. Notably, he uncovered that persulfide exhibited elevated pharmacological activities and better safety profiles than hydrogen sulfide, which contributed to a paradigm shift from hydrogen sulfide to persulfide. He also led a project on the discovery of antibiotic adjuvants, which can enhance the potency of existing antibiotics against drug-resistant bacteria. After receiving his Ph.D. degree, he took a postdoctoral position with Prof. Binghe Wang to continue working on this exciting project and advance product commercialization.

In 2020, He joined Prof. Lei Wang’s lab as a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to expand his research interests. His post-doc research focused on developing covalent protein drugs, which can form a covalent and irreversible bond with their targets via genetic code expansion and a proximity-enabled reactive therapeutic (PERx) mechanism. He developed covalent nanobodies that effectively neutralized SARS-CoV-2 with increased potency and covalent sugar binders for cancer immune therapy.

In 2023, he joined the Department of Chemistry at GSU at an assistant professor. His training and expertise include organic chemistry, drug discovery, and chemical biology. He has long-term research interests in building chemical tools to probe signal transduction and develop medicine.

In his leisure time, he enjoys traveling (especially road trip), snow skiing, playing badminton, and hiking with family and friends. He is also an All-Pro Dad by training and love to spend time with his daughter above all else. 

Current Member

Postdoctoral researcher.

Dr. Surajit Haldar

Postdoctoral Fellow

Department of Chemistry, Georgia State University

Lab address: NSC 546

Email: [email protected] ;  vbsurajit@gmail

B.Sc.,2009, University of Kalyani            

M.Sc., 2012, Visva-Bharati, University

Ph.D., 2019, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

Postdoc, 2019, SKKU University, South Korea

Postdoc, 2022, Tokyo University Science, Japan

Postdoc, 2024, Georgia State University, USA. (Present)  

Dr. Surajit Haldar completed his bachelor’s studies at Nabadwip Vidyasagar College, University of Kalyani in 2009. He obtained his M.Sc. degree in organic chemistry from Visva Bharati University, West Bengal in 2012. In the same year, he moved to the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) and joined the group of Prof. Chandan K Jana for doctoral studies.

At the beginning of 2019, he defended his thesis on synthetic organic chemistry and obtained his Ph.D. degree. His Ph.D. work focused on “Metal and Oxidant Free Direct C(sp3)-H Arylation of N-Heterocycles”. During his doctoral studies, he developed a novel stereoselective method for direct α-arylation of alicyclic secondary amines under metal and oxidant-free reaction conditions. In the middle of 2019, he moved to SKKU University, South Korea, and joined Prof. Lee's group as a postdoctoral fellow (as a team leader). His post-doctoral studies focused on bottom-up synthesis of semiconducting organic molecules. Due to covid-19 pandemic, he came back to India in 2021.

At the end of 2021, he moved to the Tokyo University of Science (TUS), Japan, and joined Prof. Aoki's research group. During this period, he worked on the project "Discovery and Mechanistic Analysis of Zn2+-Promoted Decomposition Reactions of Cyclometalated Iridium (III) Complexes and their Applications in Chemical Biology and Photo Physics”. In addition, he worked on the project “Synthesis of New Inhibitors of Dimeric Mettallo-β-lactamases”. 

In 2024, he joined Prof. Yu’s research group at Georgia State University (GSU), Atlanta, USA. During this period, he will focus on the project “discovery of co-valent drug molecules based on the SuFex Click chemistry and the synthesis of new chemical probes to investigate signaling pathways, especially protein-protein interactions.

Outside the laboratory, he enjoys, traveling, cooking, listening to detective and horror audio stories, watching Indian movies with his family, and playing and watching cricket matches with friends. Above all, he likes to spend good times with his beloved family.

Graduate Student

Yongkuan Li

Ph.D. Student

Yongkuan Li obtained his bachelor's degree from China Pharmaceutical University in 2019. He joined Yu's lab and began his PhD research in the spring of 2024.

He loves chemistry and biology and hopes he will make a great achievement in the interdisciplinary field of chemical biology!

Lingyun Yang

Yang obtained her Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from University of Nebraska at Kearney in 2014, and Master's degree in Chemistry from Georgia State University in 2017. She then obtained her Master's degree in Computer Science from Kennesaw State University in 2021. She joined the group as a Ph.D. student on Jan. 2024.

Shuyue Yang

Master's Student

Shuyue Yang g raduated from the Beijing University of Chemical Technology with a major in Bioengineering, mastering core courses in Biochemistry in 2019. Her dream is to publish some high-level papers and create some research results that can help people. 

In her free time, she enjoys sleeping as she sees it as a way to stay energized during the workday. In addition, she also cherishes the time spent with her family. She wants to accompany her little brother to some theme amusement parks during the holidays, hoping to grow up with her brother.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Chemistry with a concentration in Geology is offered in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry. This program culminates in a dissertation containing the results of distinctive and original research scholarship carried out by the candidate. The dissertation must be defended publicly and judged to be a significant contribution in the advancement of science. PhD students are supported by external funding from competitive grants awarded to faculty in the Geosciences Department. This degree represents a collaborative agreement with the Chemistry Department at GSU, and is therefore primarily conceived as a program from students with a strong interest in chemistry-centric sub-disciplines of Geology (e.g. biogeochemistry or inorganic geochemistry).

Degree Requirements

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in Chemistry with a concentration in Geology is offered in collaboration with the Department of Chemistry. At least 80 hours of graduate credit are required for the Ph.D. degree. In order to satisfy the minimum requirements for the degree, students must complete successfully:

• Thirty hours of approved graduate core coursework
• A minimum of forty hours of research, at least 20 hours of which must be Dissertation Research
• Ten additional hours of graduate course electives
• Satisfaction of the world language (or research skill) requirement
• A written and oral qualifying general examination
• A dissertation
• A final oral examination directed primarily to the defense of the dissertation

Specific requirements: In the list of requirements that follows, the minimum number of credit hours required in each category is indicated and the courses that can be taken to fulfill these requirements are listed in parentheses. Credit will be given only for those Geology courses in which the student receives a grade of B or higher. Category C may be used as the minor area of specialization if approved by the examination committee. Substitutions may be made by the graduate director in Category C with written approval of the Department of Geosciences.

Concentration Requirements

Core courses: geology (11 hours).

• GEOS 6003 - Principles and Applications of Environmental Geochemistry 3 Credit Hours
• GEOS 8001 - Nanominerals in Geochemical Environments 4 Credit Hours
• GEOS 8010 - Seminar in Urban-Economic Geography 3 Credit Hours or other approved substitutes

Minor Area Electives (13 Hours)

• GEOS 6004 - Advanced Environmental Geochemistry 3 Credit Hours
• GEOS 6006 - Sedimentary Environments and Stratigraphy 4 Credit Hours
• GEOS 6009 - Applications of Chemical Tracers in Hydrology 3 Credit Hours

Analytical Chemistry

• CHEM 6850 - Bioanalytical Chemistry I 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6860 - Bioanalytical Chemistry II 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 8900 - Directed Study in Chemistry 1 to 5 Credit Hours

Biophysical Chemistry

• CHEM 6000 - Fundamentals of Chemical Analysis 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6010 - Instrumental Methods I: Chromatography 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6190 - Instrumental Methods III: Spectroscopy 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6110 - Chemical Thermodynamics and Kinetics 3 Credit Hours

Organic Chemistry

• CHEM 6400 - Mechanistic Organic Chemistry 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6410 - Bioorganic Chemistry 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6450 - Molecular Modeling Methods 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 8900 - Directed Study in Chemistry 1 to 5 Credit Hours or other approved substitutes

Interdisciplinary Elective (6 Hours)

Special topics, electives and seminar: (10 hours).

• GEOS 6008 - Rock Fracture and Fluid Flow 3 Credit Hours
• GEOS 6095 - Colloquium in the Geosciences 1 Credit Hours
• GEOS 6097 - Topics in Geographical Sciences 1 to 3 Credit Hours
• GEOS 6640 - Geomorphology 3 Credit Hours
• GEOS 6650 - Surface Water Hydrology 3 Credit Hours
• BIOL 6458 - Microbial Ecology and Metabolism 4 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6600 - Biochemistry I 5 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6610 - Biochemistry II 3 Credit Hours
• CHEM 6490 - Special Topics in Organic Chemistry 3 Credit Hours or other approved substitutes

Research (At Least 40 Hours)

To be selected from (a minimum of 20 hours are selected from GEOS 9999)

• GEOS 8097 - Directed Study in Geology 1 to 15 Credit Hours
• GEOS 9999 - Dissertation Research 1 to 15 Credit Hours

World Language/Research Skill Requirement

Graduate assistants.

Graduate assistants are required to enroll for a minimum of 12 credit hours each for the fall/spring semesters and 9 credit hours for the summer semester. These credit hours will consist of courses required for the prescribed program of study, as well as additional hours of GEOS 8999, GEOS 8989  (offered as GEOS 8065 in fall 2021) and GEOS 6099 (offered as GEOS 8060 in fall 2021) .