Research positions are currently available for bright and hard-working students.  

Graduate students: Prospective graduate students are encouraged to contact me as soon as possible via email. International applicants are more than welcome. Prospective applicants should read about our graduate application process here.

Undergraduate Students: University of Idaho undergraduates interested in part-time or summer research opportunities and/or CHEM 491 projects should visit me in person in the chemistry department.  Students with a demonstrated aptitude for synthetic chemistry (Chem 273 and 372)  will be give preference.

Postdoctoral Fellows:  No funding is available for postdoctoral positions at this time.

Common Questions:

What do I look for in a prospective student?

The most successful synthetic chemists that I know are diligent, smart, and like to spend time in the lab.  They enjoy working with their hands and take pleasure in facing a difficult challenge.

Organic synthesis is rewarding and fun for those who have work ethic, persistence, and (in time) knowledge and creativity.  From the outset, laboratory work calls for caution and common sense.  Synthesis requires little math and is, in that sense, not as intellectually daunting as subjects in physics and some other fields of chemistry.  However, successful synthetic chemists must show fortitude and perseverance because manipulation of organic molecules often yields unexpected obstacles that must be circumvented.

Eric Hoffer once wrote something along the lines of: "a path with no obstacles probably doesn't lead anywhere."  If you agree with these words, enjoy solving problems, and are able to face challenges with calm intellect and diligence, than synthetic chemistry (and my research lab) may be the place for you.

What can a student expect?

Group members should expect a steep learning curve as they encounter a wide range of synthetic methods and strategies while becoming proficient in all standard compound purification and characterization techniques and equipment (NMR, MS, IR etc.).  All group members should expect their work to be published regularly.

New students will most often begin with project(s) focused on the development of new synthetic methods.  This work is inherently valuable (and publishable) as it contributes to the ever-expanding body of practically useful synthetic knowledge.  These projects can transition into drug discovery and medicinal chemistry investigations as we submit interesting new compounds for toxicity screening against cancer cell lines (ie. NCI/NIH Developmental Therapeutics Program).

Graduate students will progressively gain freedom and independence and will, in time, begin to feel like their PhD is very much 'in their own control' (as it is).  Senior group members will have considerable input on the nature of their research which may include natural products synthesis, continued methodology development, and/or medicinal chemistry specific to a therapeutic area (in which they will become very well versed).

PhD studies generally last five years.  During the first two years of graduate school, chemistry students at the University of Idaho split their time between lab work, course work, and teaching assistant responsibilities.  In their final years, students should expect to be in the lab full time.

What happens after a PhD in organic synthesis?

Most organic chemistry PhD's that I have known have continued on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship consisting of two years (or so) of research in another laboratory.  Commonly this is done under the guidance of well-established advisors and often in distant cities across the country or around the world.  After a post-doc, many talented synthetic chemists find employment in pharmaceutical or biotech research companies where they can potentially go on to help improve the health and wellbeing of many people.   Some, such as myself, obtain academic positions and go on to teach chemistry and/or establish their own research groups.

Often organic chemists use their unique knowledge to bridge the chemistry-biology gap by entering academia in pharmacology or medical research-oriented departments and working in highly collaborative research areas like medicinal chemistry, biochemistry or chemical biology.

I have also known colleagues who have entered other disciplines including: patent law, medicine, sales, business school, and teaching.

Jakob Magolan

Available Positions