Tenure-Track/Tenured Faculty Positions at Assistant and Associate Ranks

Purdue University Main Campus | Indianapolis and West Lafayette, IN

Purdue University invites applications for multiple tenured or tenure-track faculty positions as part of a multi-department strategic faculty recruitment initiative in Advanced Chemistry, Science and Engineering. This strategic initiative will help position Purdue as a global leader in clean and sustainable chemistry innovations with the ultimate goal of reshoring the manufacturing of critical chemicals and materials.

Participating departments include: Chemistry, Biochemistry, Chemical Engineering, Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Agricultural and Biological Engineering.

Areas of Research Focus

We invite applications from scholars working in the following areas, as well as related or emerging fields that complement the cluster’s interdisciplinary goals:

• Chemical Synthesis, Catalysis, Process Chemistry and Chemistry Enabling Technologies
• High-throughput Experimentation, Automation, Autonomous Labs, and AI Tools in Chemical Synthesis and Manufacturing
• Chemical Metrology & Instrumentation
• Enabling Technologies for Drug Discovery
• Natural Products, Biocatalysis, Engineered Biosynthetic Pathways, and Bio-derived Feedstocks.

Faculty Responsibilities

• Establish a vigorous, externally funded research program
• Contribute to the education and mentoring of graduate and undergraduate students
• Collaborate across disciplines to solve complex global sustainability challenges
• Translate discoveries into scalable industry practices
• Candidates are expected to contribute to both undergraduate and graduate teaching. Responsibilities include developing and delivering lectures and/or laboratory courses in their area of expertise, mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in research, and participating in curriculum innovation to advance chemistry at Purdue University. 

Strategic Advantages at Purdue

Faculty hired under this initiative will join a vibrant ecosystem of interdisciplinary centers and institutes, including:

• Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery
• Center for Analytical Instrumentation Development (CAID)
• William D. and Sherry L. Young Institute for the Advanced Manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals
• Dane O. Kildsig Center for Pharmaceutical Processing Research (KCPPR)
• Dauch Center for the Management of Manufacturing Enterprises (DCMME)
• Lilly and Purdue Research Alliance Center (LPRC)
• National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Purdue Institute for Cancer Research
• Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience (PIIN)
• Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D)
• Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering (RCHE)

Qualifications

• A Ph.D. in chemistry, chemical engineering, biochemistry, or a related discipline by the start of the appointment
• A record of research excellence and productivity commensurate with rank
• Demonstrated potential or record of interdisciplinary collaboration and impactful scholarship
• Commitment to inclusive teaching and mentorship

Application Process

To apply, please submit a cover letter, CV, research statement, and teaching statement. Applicants should arrange for three letters of reference to be e-mailed to advancedchem@purdue.edu. All application material, including the reference letters, will be held in strict confidence. In the cover letter, please indicate your primary department of interest and any secondary departments of interest. Review of applications will begin on Nov. 17, 2025 and continue until positions are filled.  Applications should be submitted at: https://careers.purdue.edu/job/Assistant-Professor-of-Advanced-Chemistry/39238-en_US/

A background check is required for employment in this position.

James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Department of Chemistry

James Tarpo Jr. and Margaret Tarpo Department of Chemistry at Purdue University is a global leader in cutting-edge research, education, and innovation, renowned for its Nobel Prize-winning advancements in organic chemistry and top-ranked analytical chemistry program. It pioneers transformative work in green synthesis, catalysis, and pharmaceutical applications, contributing to real-world chemical, pharmaceutical and materials development. The department’s entrepreneurial success is underscored by drug discovery initiatives generating hundreds of millions in royalties. State-of-the-art facilities like the AI-Guided Drug Discovery and Automation Center, High Throughput Experimentation Catalysis Center, Center for Autonomous Materials Discovery, and High Throughput DESI Facility leverage artificial intelligence, robotics, and automation to redefine scientific exploration. These resources position Purdue at the forefront of sustainable chemistry, advanced materials, and next-generation pharmaceutical technologies, fostering collaboration across academia and industry to address global challenges.

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering

Purdue’s Davidson School of Chemical Engineering has demonstrated excellence in the development of continuous flow chemistry for pharmaceutical compounds (Nagy, Reklaitis), and sourcing critical materials for defense applications through the Purdue Energetic Research Center (PERC; director: Beaudoin) and for national security interests (rare earth elements: Wang). ChE also has world-class research teams that develop heterogeneous catalysts (Gounder, Hibbitts, Iglesia, Miller, Ribeiro), enzymatic catalysts (Morgan, Ramkrishna) and electrocatalysts (Tackett) for sustainable chemistry, including research through the $55M NSF ERC on Innovative and Strategic Transformation of Alkane Resources (CISTAR; director: Ribeiro). Purdue ChE is also the headquarters for the Purdue Process Safety and Assurance Center (P2SAC; co-directors: Basaran, Mentzer) that performs research focused on process safety improvements in various industries, particularly for reaction chemistries practiced in the pharmaceutical sector, which is heavily represented in P2SAC’s industrial consortium. The School has also launched a new professional MS program on Pharmaceutical Engineering in Indianapolis and West Lafayette, in partnership with Chemistry and other units on campus.

Department of Biochemistry

The Department of Biochemistry is recognized for its multidisciplinary collaborations and commitment to scientific excellence. Faculty conduct world-class research in areas spanning structural biology, plant metabolism, molecular genetics, cancer biology, bioenergy, and RNA science, thereby advancing both fundamental discovery and translational applications. Faculty are actively engaged in multiple integrative centers, including the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research (PICR), the Purdue Center for Plant Biology (CPB), the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience (PIIN), the Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery (PIDD), and the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D). State-of-the-art facilities including x-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and mass spectrometry, strong funding from agencies such as NIH and NSF, and robust interdisciplinary ties create ample opportunities for faculty to launch and sustain high-impact programs and mentor students. Core facilities for high-throughput screening, phenotyping, genomics, bioinformatics, microscopy, NMR, X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, flow cytometry, metabolomics, lipidomics, and proteomics are readily available on campus to investigate fundamental and translational questions in biology and medicine. The department resides in Purdue University’s College of Agriculture, one of the world’s leading colleges in agricultural, food, life, and natural-resource sciences which is ranked third in the US and fifth in the world in the 2024 QS World University Rankings. Substantial resources for field-based research are also available near campus and across the state.

Department of Agricultural and Biological (ABE)

Purdue’s Department of Agricultural and Biological (ABE) Engineering has demonstrated excellence in the processing of bio-derived feedstocks (Ladisch, Mosier), biocatalysis (Sankaranarayanan), biosensors for biomolecule detection (Verma) and pharmaceutical processing (Ladisch, Ristroph). The Laboratory of Renewable Resources Engineering, housed in the  ABE Building, applies biological engineering and biochemical fundamentals that translate science into technology solutions for renewable energy, bioproducts and health.

Borch Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology

Housed in Purdue’s College of Pharmacy, the Borch Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology offers a unique multidisciplinary and collaborative environment with synergistic strengths in molecular pharmacology, neuroscience, cancer biology, immunology/infectious diseases, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, drug design, systems biology, and computational chemistry. Extensive opportunities for collaboration also exist within a vibrant community of scientists in the Colleges of Agriculture, Engineering, Health and Human Sciences, Science, and Veterinary Medicine. The Department is highly engaged in collaborative research initiatives led by the Life Sciences Institutes, including the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience (PIIN), the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease (PI4D), the Purdue Institute for Drug Discovery (PIDD), the Purdue Institute for Cancer Research (PICR), and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering (RCHE).

Purdue University is an equal opportunity/equal access university.