johns hopkins chemistry phd

Chemistry, PhD

Zanvyl krieger school of arts and sciences.

Johns Hopkins University was the first American institution to emphasize graduate education and to establish a PhD program in chemistry. Founding Chair Ira Remsen initiated a tradition of excellence in research and education that has continued until this day. The Hopkins graduate program is designed for students who desire a PhD in chemistry while advancing scientific knowledge for humankind.

The graduate program provides students with the background and technical expertise required to be leaders in their field and to pursue independent research.

Graduate students’ advancement is marked by entrance exams, coursework, teaching, seminars, oral examinations, and an individual research project that culminates in a thesis dissertation. The thesis research project represents an opportunity for graduate students to make a mark on the world. Working in conjunction with a faculty member or team, individually tailored thesis projects enable students to think independently about cutting-edge research areas that are of critical importance. Thesis research is the most important step toward becoming a PhD scientist, and our program provides an outstanding base with a proven track record of success.

Graduate students make up the heart of the Chemistry Department, and the department strives to support students’ individual needs. Each student is carefully advised and classes are traditionally quite small. Multidisciplinary research and course offerings that increase scientific breadth and innovation are hallmarks of the program.  In addition to academic and technical development, our department also offers several outlets for professional and social development.

Admission Requirements

Application materials include:

• Academic transcripts
• Three letters of recommendation
• Statement of Purpose
• We encourage (but do not require) applicants to report scores for the GRE general and GRE chemistry subject tests. Applicants who feel that GRE scores support their case are welcome to include them. Our application review process is holistic, and the Graduate Admissions Committee believes that standardized test scores represent only one piece of a candidate’s profile. Applicants for whom taking the GRE presents a burden or who feel it does not represent their skills are free to not include them.
• The application fee is $75. However, fee waivers may be requested for applicants that have documentation showing they are a part of SACNAS, MARCC, oSTEM and many other organizations. To access the full list to see if you qualify, go to the  Krieger Graduate Admission and Enrollment  page.

Assistance with the application process is available. Candidates with questions about the application process should contact the department's administrative staff ([email protected]).

There are no fixed requirements for admission. Undergraduate majors in chemistry, biology, earth sciences, mathematics, or physics may apply as well as all well-qualified individuals who will have received a BA degree before matriculation. A select number of applicants will be invited to visit campus to tour our facilities and interact with our faculty members and their lab members over a weekend in March.

For further information about graduate study in chemistry visit the Chemistry Department website . 

Program Requirements

Normally, the minimum course requirement for both the M.A. and the Ph.D. degrees is six one-semester graduate courses in chemistry and related sciences. Exceptionally well-prepared students may ask for a reduction of these requirements.

Requirements for the Ph.D. degree include a research dissertation worthy of publication, and a knowledge of chemistry and related material as demonstrated in an oral examination. Each student must teach for at least one year.

Below is a list of the core Chemistry courses for graduate level students.

Johns Hopkins University PhD in Chemistry

How much does a doctorate in chemistry from johns hopkins cost, johns hopkins graduate tuition and fees.

Does Johns Hopkins Offer an Online PhD in Chemistry?

Johns hopkins doctorate student diversity for chemistry, male-to-female ratio.

Women made up around 22.2% of the chemistry students who took home a doctor’s degree in 2019-2020. This is less than the nationwide number of 40.6%.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

Around 11.1% of chemistry doctor’s degree recipients at Johns Hopkins in 2019-2020 were awarded to racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 14%.

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PhD Program

Fall 2025 application deadline is December 15, 2024.

See our two-page flyer here .

The PhD degree is awarded for original research performed under the guidance of a thesis advisor. The formal requirements for this degree are:

• Completion of six graduate-level courses including the four required core and elective courses.
• Completion of an annual research evaluation each year.
• Serve as a teaching assistant for at least two required undergraduate courses.
• Completion in the first semester of 500.401 Research Laboratory Safety
• Attend graduate seminars (540.600/601) every semester. Students are expected to enroll and attend department seminars throughout their tenure in the department.
• Successful completion of the Graduate Board Oral Exam.
• Completion of an original research project, documented in a dissertation that is defended by the candidate in a public presentation.
• Completion of Responsible Conduct of Research training. For complete information, see WSE’s Policy on the Responsible Conduct of Research Training .
• Application for Graduation submitted to Registrar’s office.

For students entered before Fall 2021 Degree Requirement Checklist Download here .

For students entered in Fall 2021 Degree Requirement Checklist Download here .

Download the current PhD Student Handbook

JHU Mentorship Commitments of Faculty Advisors and PhD Students

“ As a graduate program, ChemBE at Hopkins is literally a diamond in the rough. On top of having many high-quality research professors, the collective efforts of students, faculty, and staff helps to create a nurturing environment which brings out the best researcher a person can become. ”

Learn about the Graduate Admissions Process at Hopkins Engineering

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A Johns Hopkins postdoc, Herbert Baxter Adams, brought the seminar method of teaching from Germany, where he earned a PhD in 1876. The idea: That students would learn more by doing than by listening to lectures and taking exams.

That spirit of inquiry , of challenging the way things are done, lives on today in our nine academic divisions, all of which offer full-time graduate programs.

More information about our graduate programs is available below

School of Advanced International Studies

Students get global perspectives on today’s critical issues, with programs in international affairs , international studies , economics and finance , and public policy

Krieger School of Arts & Sciences

More than 60 full-time and part-time graduate programs spanning the arts , humanities , and natural and social sciences

Also see:   Part-time graduate options via Advanced Academic Programs

Carey Business School

The Carey Business School’s AACSB-accredited business programs provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful leaders and lifelong learners .

School of Education

One of the nation’s top schools of education, according to U.S. News & World Report , with degree and certificate programs in teaching , special education , counseling , administration , and leadership

Whiting School of Engineering

Programs in fields of critical importance to the future, health, and safety of our world, including robotics , biomedical engineering , cybersecurity , and systems engineering

Also see: Part-time and online options via Engineering for Professionals

School of Medicine

Since 1893, Johns Hopkins Medicine has trained the next generation of great medical leaders and is widely regarded as one of the best med schools and hospitals in the world, with top programs in internal medicine , women’s health , HIV/AIDS , geriatrics , drug/alcohol abuse , and pediatrics

School of Nursing

The U.S. News & World Report top-ranked school prepares graduate level pre-licensure students and current BSN or advanced practice nurses to be health care leaders through a variety of MSN, DNP, and PhD programs. Students can focus on a wide range of advanced practice specialty areas – including health care organizational leadership , nurse anesthesiology , pediatric , adult/Gerontological , family , or critical care .

Peabody Institute

Founded in 1857, this world-renowned conservatory offers degrees in composition , computer music , conducting , performance , jazz , music education , music theory , and recording arts and sciences

Bloomberg School of Public Health

The Bloomberg School, U.S. News & World Report ‘s top-ranked graduate school of public health for more than two decades, offers programs in health administration , health science , and public policy

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• Doctorate in Sustainable Energy

The Ralph O’Connor Sustainable Energy Institute (ROSEI) is a community of researchers at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) that is committed to advancing sustainable energy, and we would love for you to join us. PhD programs are housed within the academic departments at JHU, so PhD students working in sustainable energy span many parts of the university.

As a student interested in doctoral research and in sustainable energy, ROSEI would love to help you find a home at JHU. Provided below is a sample of keywords for sustainable energy research being conducted at JHU, the department where this research is located, and a faculty member or coordinator within that department that has agreed to field inquiries about sustainable energy research in the given department.  A link to the different graduate admissions details for each department has also been provided. Please note that each department has its own guidelines regarding time to degree, coursework, examinations, stipend levels, etc. So, please take advantage of the information links and contacts below to learn all you can.

In addition to the brief summaries below you may also want to directly peruse the websites of ROSEI’s core, associate, and affiliated faculty to learn more about the research programs of ROSEI faculty that may resonate with your interests. Once accepted, ROSEI provides both a social and technical program that will allow you to share your research and passions with others in the broader JHU community interested in sustainable energy. PhD students are the heart and soul of JHU and we look forward to welcoming you to joining in on this important research.

ROSEI does not support direct PhD fellowships in sustainable energy at this time, but it does provide support to faculty, who then hire PhD students. Please check back as ROSEI is actively pursuing training grants to support such fellowships in the future.

You can learn more about doctoral research in sustainable energy at one of the information sessions held online by ROSEI faculty. The most recent webinar for PhD admission was held on Nov 1, 2023 and the FAQ from the event is available at the bottom of this page .

For science or engineering graduates who want to pursue a PhD in engineering related to sustainable energy:

For science graduates who want to pursue a PhD in science related to sustainable energy:

For social science graduates who want to pursue a PhD in social science related to sustainable energy:

See below for an FAQ about applying to JHU’s PhD programs that has been put together by ROSEI:

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Eligible JHU PhD Programs

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Please click on the program titles for more program information and to access individual program applications . View this list by school .

• Applied Mathematics & Statistics

The teaching and research programs of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics span modern applied mathematics.  The department’s curriculum in Probability/Statistics covers probability theory, stochastic processes, and applied and theoretical statistics. Its Operations Research/Optimization program includes continuous and discrete optimization, numerical optimization, network programming, and game theory. Its curriculum in Discrete Mathematics includes combinatorics, graph theory and cryptology, and coding.  Its program in Scientific Computing includes computing, numerical analysis, matrix analysis, and mathematical modeling of systems.  The programs of the department together emphasize mathematical reasoning, mathematical modeling and computation, abstraction from the particular, innovative application of mathematics, and development of new methodology.

• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

The PhD Program in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is designed for students interested in graduate-level preparation for careers in biomedical and health sciences research. Emphasizing molecular studies of multiprotein systems, molecular and cellular biology, and biochemical nutrition, the research of our doctoral students has applications to cancer, aging, neurological diseases, and environmentally-based diseases. Doctoral training in reproductive biology focuses on reproductive physiology, molecular endocrinology, and cellular, molecular and developmental biology, with applications to aging, fertility/infertility regulation, and reproductive toxicology. Another area of strength in the department is cancer biology. Students are trained in basic biochemical, biophysical and molecular biological approaches that can be applied to critical problems in cancer biology.  

• Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology

The Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program offers graduate training in the breadth of the biological sciences where students focus on problems of biomedical importance from a mechanistic perspective. Our students choose their thesis advisers from seven departments: biological chemistry, biophysics and biophysical chemistry, cell biology, molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience, pharmacology and molecular sciences, and physiology.

• Biological Chemistry

The graduate program in Biological Chemistry offers training in the molecular mechanisms underlying a wide variety of biologic processes including nuclear structure & gene regulation, miRNA biogenesis & function, signaling, lipid metabolism & enzymology, exosome biology, cell polarity & migration, bacterial cell biology & cell division, immunology, host-pathogen interactions, pain & inflammation, stress responses, glycobiology, neurobiology, cancer, metabolism & bioenergetics, and proteomics and metabolomics.

• Biomedical Engineering

Biomedical engineering applies modern approaches from the experimental life sciences in conjunction with theoretical and computational methods from engineering, mathematics and computer science to the solution of biomedical problems of fundamental importance, such as human health. Students train in the school of medicine and school of engineering in fields such as neuroengineering, medical imaging, computational medicine, and cell and tissue engineering.

Biophysics research plays a leading role in uncovering the beauty and intricacies of how biology works. Coupling math and physics with biochemistry, the strength of biophysics lies in analyzing biological systems in a quantitative fashion. In the Thomas C. Jenkins Department of Biophysics, we use cutting edge experimental techniques and modeling to gain mechanistic insight into a wide range of key biological questions.

The Program in Molecular Biophysics utilizes methods in biology, biochemistry, chemistry, physics, engineering and computer science to provide students with training in both the fundamental principles of biophysics and contemporary advances in the field. The program offers opportunities in such areas as X-ray crystallography, and optical spectroscopies, statistical mechanics, thermodynamics and biophysical chemistry, and it emphasizes studies of macromolecules and their assemblies.

The Jenkins Biophysics Program is ideal for students with strong math and computational backgrounds, and with a strong desire to learn thermodynamics, structural biology, and biophysics.

• Biostatistics

The PhD program of the Johns Hopkins Department of Biostatistics provides training in the theory of probability and statistics and in biostatistical methodology. The program is unique in its emphasis on the foundations of statistical reasoning and in requiring its graduates to complete rigorous training in real analysis-based probability and statistics, equivalent to what is provided in most departments of mathematical statistics. Research leading to a thesis may involve development of new theory and methodology, or it may be concerned with applications of statistics and probability to problems in public health, medicine or biology.

• Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics

The Program in Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics (CMDB) includes faculty from Johns Hopkins University’s departments of biology, biophysics, and chemistry, as well as from the Carnegie Institution for Science Department of Embryology. CMDB graduate students participate in a core curriculum that includes molecular biology, cellular biology, developmental biology, and biophysics. Students broaden their knowledge in these areas throughout their graduate training while specializing in their own research areas. Through this cross-training, PhDs emerge from the CMDB program prepared to tackle complex problems in the biosciences.

• Cellular and Molecular Medicine

The Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine prepares scientists for laboratory research at the cellular and molecular level with a direct impact on the understanding, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of human diseases. Coursework covers human physiology, anatomy and histology, cellular and molecular basis of disease and introduction to clinical research. There are 130 mentoring faculty from 28 basic science or clinical departments. A clinical co-mentor directs individualized bench-to-bedside experience. Training in rigor and reproducibility and career opportunities are emphasized.

• Cellular and Molecular Physiology

The Cellular and Molecular Physiology graduate program emphasizes fundamental and translational research on the mechanisms by which an organism maintains processes essential for life. The studies are characterized by integration of molecular, cellular and systems biology approaches and aim to mechanistically understand both normal and disease states.

• Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Chemical and biomolecular engineering graduate students at Hopkins participate in collaborative research programs with scientists and engineers at the Homewood campus, the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, the Johns Hopkins Institute for NanoBioTechnology, the Applied Physics Laboratory, and nearby government laboratories, such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. This research network provides students with the opportunity to conduct research and learn in an extraordinary array of state-of-the-art laboratories. Key areas of research include: Biomolecular Engineering and Synthetic Biology; Self-Assembly and Soft Matter; Engineering for Precision Medicine; Nanomaterials for Energy, Catalysis, and Separations; and Modeling in the Big Data Era.

• Chemical Biology

The Chemistry-Biology Interface (CBI) graduate program provides students with training that enables them to challenge the traditional boundaries currently separating chemistry from biology. The nature of the program provides students with an expansive choice of faculty thesis advisers (preceptors), whose research spans the range of the chemistry-biology interface. CBI coursework includes classes in chemistry and the biological, biochemical, and/or biomedical sciences. Graduates of the CBI Program are scientists capable of interdisciplinary research, who approach both chemistry and biology from a more global and health-related perspective.

Johns Hopkins University was the first American institution to establish a PhD program in chemistry. The Hopkins graduate program is designed for students who desire a PhD in chemistry while advancing scientific knowledge for humankind. The graduate program provides students with the background and technical expertise required to be leaders in their field and to pursue independent research. Working in conjunction with a faculty member or team, individually tailored thesis projects enable students to think independently about cutting-edge research areas that are of critical importance. Multidisciplinary research and course offerings that increase scientific breadth and innovation are hallmarks of the program. 

Civil and Systems Engineering

The PhD program in Civil Engineering aims to inspire the leaders of tomorrow to take on the challenge of creating and sustaining the built environment that underpins our society. Focal research areas in the department include structural engineering, structural mechanics, probabilistic methods, hazards management, and systems engineering. Students graduate from the program with a sense of the responsibility that the civil engineering profession accepts for applying the principles of engineering sciences for the betterment of the built environment and society. Its graduates have an appreciation of professional ethics and the value of service to their profession and society through participation in technical activities, and in community, state and national organizations.

• Cognitive Science

Cognitive science is the study of the human mind and brain, focusing on how the mind represents and manipulates knowledge and how mental representations and processes are realized in the brain. Cognitive science has emerged at the interface of several disciplines. Central among these are cognitive psychology, linguistics, and portions of computer science and artificial intelligence; other important components derive from work in the neurosciences, philosophy, and anthropology. Cognitive scientists share the central goal of characterizing the structure of human intellectual functioning. Students are provided theoretically oriented research and training opportunities as they approach the study of the mind and brain from multiple perspectives. The PhD program’s primary goal is to train a new generation of cognitive scientists who can meld multiple existing disciplines into a new, genuinely integrated science of the mind/brain.

• Computer Science

Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University (CS@JHU) is a diverse, collaborative, and intensely  research-focused  department. The faculty spans a broad spectrum of disciplines encompassing core computer science and several cross-disciplinary application areas including: Computational Biology and Medicine; Information Security; Machine Learning & Data Intensive Computing; Robotics, Vision & Graphics; Speech & Language Processing; Systems; and Theory & Programming Languages. Many CS faculty members have extra-departmental ties to various Hopkins multidisciplinary research centers , which are an important part of the Johns Hopkins intellectual environment. Our mission in the university is to enhance discovery and innovation in science, engineering and society through computing research and education.  

Cross-Disciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences

The Cross-Disciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences (XDBio) aims to facilitate interdisciplinary research training bridging biology, engineering, computer science, physics, chemistry and medicine. Students will be offered a tailored, personalized curriculum guided by each student’s individual research interests, prior coursework and future goals.

• Earth and Planetary Sciences

The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences offers programs leading to the PhD degree in a wide range of disciplines, covering the atmosphere, biosphere, oceans, geochemistry, geology and geophysics, and planets. The graduate program is designed to give every student the training and the tools needed for independent research and a rewarding scientific career. The PhD program is flexible so that every student has a custom experience.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Research in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering reflects the diverse interests—from medicine to defense to environmental protection, to name a few—of our faculty and students. Our research activities are closely coupled with the  Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine  and the  Applied Physics Laboratory , which enables collaborations capable of addressing global challenges. Though the research conducted in our department covers a wide range of applications, the underlying question of every project is the same: how can we help? Our strengths in traditional research areas enable us to develop solutions for, and adapt to changes in, the areas of Cyber-Bio-Physical Systems, Human Language, Nano-Bio Photonics, and Image and Signal Processing. Within these areas, we address issues related to whole body sensing, smart buildings and infrastructures, and beyond-CMOS and cognitive computing.

• Environmental Health and Engineering

The Department of Environmental Health and Engineering offers three track options for our PhD in Environmental Health. The track in Health Security focuses on research and training in a wide, complementary range of topics aimed to reduce health security threats and their impacts, and to increase community resilience to global catastrophic biological risks. Basic research in the Toxicology, Physiology & Molecular Mechanisms track is focused on discovering novel molecular mechanisms that drive the pathophysiology of major chronic diseases to develop prevention and therapeutic strategies to improve public health. The Exposure Sciences and Environmental Epidemiology track offers research and training opportunities in key topic areas relevant to environmental and occupational health. These areas include air, water, the food system, early life exposures, metals and synthetic chemicals, environmental microbiology, the built environment, global environmental health, molecular and integrated epidemiology, and the investigation of susceptibility factors and effective interventions. 

• Functional Anatomy and Evolution

The Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution focuses on the exploration of relationships among functional anatomy, behavior and evolutionary biology of extant and extinct vertebrates. Graduate students conduct original research in evolutionary organismal biology, working in laboratory settings, exploring collections at JHMI and the Smithsonian, and conducting fieldwork. Students also gain experience teaching human anatomy in the school of medicine.

• Health Sciences Informatics

The Division of Health Sciences Informatics seeks to advance the development and use of information technology for decision-making, research, health care delivery and individual academic growth.

• Human Genetics and Genomics

The Human Genetics and Molecular Biology PhD program in the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine seeks to further the understanding of human heredity and genetic medicine and use that knowledge to treat and prevent disease. The program trains students for academic careers in the field of human genetics.

The Graduate Program in Immunology trains students in the basic mechanisms of the immune system and the application of this knowledge to the understanding and treatment of disease. Research areas include investigations of human infectious diseases, exploration of cell signaling and genetic pathways critical for immune development and function, or engaging in the study of immune–mediated processes in autoimmunity, transplantation or cancer.

• Materials Science and Engineering

Materials scientists seek to understand the connections between the structure of materials and their properties, how particular properties can be achieved through suitable processing, and the applications of materials to modern technologies. The Department of Materials Science and Engineering is highly interdisciplinary, bringing together students and faculty with diverse interests to address urgent technological needs. Particular areas of strength include biomaterials, nanomaterials, organic semiconductors, metallic glasses, materials characterization, and thin films.

• Mathematics

The goal of the Mathematics PhD program is to train graduate students to become research mathematicians. Faculty research interests   are concentrated in several areas of pure mathematics, including analysis and geometric analysis, algebraic geometry and number theory, differential geometry, algebraic topology, category theory, and mathematical physics. The department also has an active group in data science, in collaboration with the  Applied Math Department .

• Mechanical Engineering

The research initiatives in the Department of Mechanical Engineering push the envelope of core disciplines such as fluid mechanics and thermal processes, kinematics and dynamics, mechanics and materials, biomechanics, and computational engineering. Cutting-edge applications are pursued in robotics and human-machine interaction, micro- and nano-scale engineered devices and materials, energy and the environment, aerospace and marine systems, and biology and medicine. Problem solving is at the heart of the department’s approach to engineering education. Our approach is highly interdisciplinary and collaborative, and we stress the exploration of innovative and even unconventional ideas.

• Molecular Microbiology and Immunology

Opportunities for doctoral research in MMI are multifaceted and include research in the areas of virology, bacteriology, parasitology, mycology, vaccine development, host immunity, pathogenesis, autoimmunity, bioinformatics, ecology of infectious diseases, and medical entomology. PhD students learn fundamental and mechanistic approaches to solving essential questions in microbiology, immunology and public health. MMI PhD students practice their skills in one of three research training areas: molecular and cellular basis of infectious diseases, malaria and mosquito-borne diseases, and rigorous immunological and microbiological research investigations.

• Neuroscience

The Neuroscience Training Program curriculum spans the breadth of modern neuroscience, from molecular/cellular underpinnings to systems/cognitive integration. Work with our trainees has led to fundamental discoveries in the organization of the cerebral cortex, neurotransmitter signaling, neuronal and glial cell development, and circuit function.

• Pathobiology

The Graduate Program in Pathobiology in the Department of Pathology educates PhD trainees in basic and translational research in human pathology. Students effectively bridge molecular and cell biology with clinically relevant biological science and pathological biology. Students are rigorously trained in mechanisms of disease by clinical and basic science experimental pathologists, therefore gaining unparalleled access to human tissues and specimens in health and disease.

• Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

The focus of the Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences graduate program is on chemical biology, the molecular interactions of living systems and the application of this knowledge in pharmacology to fields including immunology, virology, cancer and neuroscience.

• Physics and Astronomy

Graduate programs in physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins University are among the top programs in the field. Students engage in original research starting in their first semester and have flexibility in choosing their course of research and designing their path through the program. A wide range of research projects—both theoretical and experimental—are available in  astrophysics ,  condensed matter physics ,  particle physics , and  plasma spectroscopy . Graduate students can work toward a PhD in either physics or astronomy and astrophysics. Doctoral students are prepared for careers in physics and astronomy research, teaching, or in applications such as biophysics, space physics, and industrial research.

• Psychological and Brain Sciences

Psychological and brain sciences are concerned with understanding the biological and psychological processes underlying animal and human behavior, and with the effects of environmental influences on behavior at all stages of development. The program for doctoral students in psychological and brain sciences is scientifically oriented and emphasizes research methodology. The broad aims of the graduate program are to train students to become scientists rather than practitioners, and to provide them with the knowledge and skills they need to help solve the problems of contemporary society. The core program for training doctoral students emphasizes scientific methodology and provides training in both pure research and research related to problems in the world.

Eligible JHU PhD Programs by School

Bloomberg school of public health, krieger school of arts and sciences, whiting school of engineering.

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Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences

Department of biological chemistry.

The Biological Chemistry Department faculty conduct cellular and molecular research to study basic biology and the origins and treatments of human disease. Among their targets are protein, metabolic and genetic controls of disease, and cell growth and differentiation in various biological systems, including skin, hair, fat and sensory nerves. Faculty member Dr. Peter Agre was co-recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his lab's discovery of aquaporin water channels. Faculty are associated with the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Graduate Program, the Graduate Training Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Predoctoral Training Program in Human Genetics.

Michael Caterina, MD PhD

• Solomon H. Snyder Professor of Neurosurgery
• Professor of Neurological Surgery

Robert N. Cole, PhD

• Director, Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility
• Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry

Ryuya Fukunaga, PhD

Erin Goley, PhD

• Professor of Biological Chemistry

Stephen J. Gould, PhD

• Director, Graduate Program in Biological Chemistry

Seth Shatkin Margolis, PhD

Mollie K. Meffert, MD PhD

• Vice Director, Department of Biological Chemistry

Tamara O'Connor, PhD

• Director of Admissions, Graduate Program in Biological Chemistry
• Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry

Joel L. Pomerantz, PhD

Karen L. Reddy, PhD

Michael J. Wolfgang, PhD

• Professor of Physiology

Natasha E. Zachara, PhD

• Director, Immersive Training in the Glycosciences

Department of Chemistry

• Graduate Students & Postdocs

• Undergraduate Students

Graduate Students

Postdoctoral Fellows

Research Associates, Visiting Scholars, and Students

Members of The Academy at Homewood

Paul dagdigian.

Academy Co-Chair | Professor Emeritus, Chemistry; PhD, University of Chicago Paul J. Dagdigian received his undergraduate education at Haverford College and did his Ph. D. dissertation in physical chemistry at the University of Chicago.  He began his academic career in 1974 at the Department of Chemistry at Hopkins, where he was Arthur D. Chambers Professor of Chemistry and served as department chair over 1998-2005.  Professor Dagdigian has employed laser spectroscopic techniques for the study of the dynamics of gas-phase collisional processes and for the sensitive detection of trace concentrations of molecules such as explosives.  In recent work, Dagdigian has also been investigated molecular collisions through calculations of the relevant cross sections and rate constants. Current Interests: Academy co-chair, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 academic years.  Continuing work on molecular collisions.

Susan Forscher Weiss

Academy Co-Chair | Professor Emerita, Musicology and Modern Languages Susan Forscher Weiss is Professor Emerita, Musicology and Modern Languages. Among her scholarly interests are pedagogy, organology, iconography, prosopography, and musical theatre. Her publications include articles in national and international journals, chapters in peer-reviewed books and scholarly monographs and edited volumes on musical learning and on the life and works of Cole Porter. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants and has served on several boards. In 2014 she was Robert Lehman Visiting Professor at the Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies at Villa i Tatti, and in 2019 was a Visiting Professor at Princeton University.  Current Interests: Mentoring and Coordinating speakers for talks.

Bruce Barnett

Professor of Physics and Astronomy; PhD, University of Maryland Bruce Barnett is a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the Johns Hopkins University. His current research is high energy proton-proton collisions within the CMS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Over the years, he has taught a large variety of courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Karen Beemon

Professor of Biology; PhD, UC Berkeley Dr. Beemon began working on retroviral genomes as a graduate student of Molecular Biology at UC Berkeley.  As a postdoc at the Salk Institute, she initiated study of the product of the viral src oncogene, the first tyrosine kinase.  She began at JHU as an Assistant Professor of Biology in 1981.  She continued study of retroviruses, focusing on regulation of RNA splicing, export from the nucleus, and avoidance of nonsense-mediated degradation (NMD).  She also studied oncogenesis by avian viruses without oncogenes; these integrate into host DNA and activate nearby host genes, including a long non-coding RNA in the TERT promoter.  Current Interests: Mentoring .

Barry Blumenfeld

Professor of Physics and Astronomy After receiving his Undergraduate degree from MIT, he went to Columbia University  where he worked with Leon Lederman. For his Ph.D. research he moved to CERN, Geneva, Switzerland in 1971 to work at the world’s first hadron collider. Receiving his Ph.D. in 1974, he stayed at CERN until moving to Johns Hopkins in 1979. While on the Hopkins Faculty, he worked on various Physics experiments, including two at electron-positron colliders, two neutrino oscillation experiments and a proton-antiproton collider.  He is now a Research Professor at Hopkins and still involved in the world’s largest hadron collider at CERN. Current Interests: Colliders, Neutrinos, Distributed Computing

Grace S. Brush

Professor Emerita, Environmental Health and Engineering; PhD, Harvard University Education : B.A. in Economics St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia (1949); M.S. in Botany, University of Illinois, Urbana (1951); PH.D. in Biology, Harvard University (Radcliffe College) (1956).  Employment : Laboratory technician, Geological Survey of Canada 1949 to 1950; assistant professor part time University of Iowa and Rutgers University  and part time research scientist Princeton University (1958-1969), research scientist (1974-1994) and full professor with tenure (1994-2089) Johns Hopkins University. Research : My research has focused on the natural forests of Maryland, the urban forests of Baltimore, and the paleoecological history of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. Current Interests: Writing a book on the History of the Chesapeake Ecosystem

Betsy M. Bryan

Alexander Badawy Professor Emerita, Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Near Eastern Studies; Professor of History of Art; PhD, Yale University Betsy M. Bryan received her doctorate from the Department of Near Eastern Language and Literatures at Yale University in 1980 and after editing and research work at the Brooklyn Museum came to Johns Hopkins as Assistant Professor in 1986, taking a newly endowed position of the Alexander Badawy Chair in Egyptian Art and Archaeology. She has specialized in the history, art, and culture of the 18 th Dynasty (ca. 1550 to 1300 B.C.E.) and overseen some thirty PhD students. Since 2001 she has directed the JHU Archaeological Expedition to the Temple of the Goddess Mut at South Karnak in Egypt. She is currently working on the full publication of that long term project, as well as several shorter art historical articles. Current Interests: Teaching Egyptian Language, Mentoring PhD Students, Advising for JHU Archaeological Museum

Sara Castro-Klarén

Professor of Spanish and Latin American Culture and Literature; PhD, UCLA Professor Castro-Klaren earned her Ph.D. at the University of California (UCLA) in 1968. Before coming to JHU as Professor of Latin American Culture and Literature she taught at Dartmouth College and Georgetown University.  She has been a pioneer in cultural studies, the interdisciplinary study of Latin America’s rich intellectual and literary culture and feminist studies. Her work includes books on major writers such as Jose Maria Arguedas and Mario Vargas Llosa. She has published essays on Diamela Eltit, Julio Cortazar, Guaman Poma and the Inca Garcilaso with an emphasis on the question of the inversion of epistemologies and the trenchant search for different ways of knowing. Her research has been published in major journals and presses in both English and Spanish. She has also opened up fields of research such as the poetics of archeology, subaltern knowledges and the epistemological-affective search for the sensory web that ties humans to animals and plants in her work of Arguedas, Hudson and Cortazar. At the moment she continues work on the relation of the poetics of archeology and the rise of the nation.  Current Interests: Publishing and Research .

Richard Cone

Professor Emeritus, Biophysics; PhD, University of Chicago As an assistant professor of biology at Harvard University, he taught physiology in an introductory biology course, Nat. Sci. 5, led by George Wald and pursued research on photoreceptors, the rods and cones of our eyes. In 1969, he chose to join the Biophysics Department at Johns Hopkins, where his research on the rapid diffusion of rhodopsin in photoreceptors led to the Cole award from the Biophysical Society. Cone Lab

Matthew Crenson

Professor Emeritus, Political Science ; PhD, University of Chicago Professor Crenson is a Baltimore native who graduated from City College.  He earned his B.A. at Johns Hopkins and an M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago.  He has been a faculty member at Johns Hopkins since 1969.  He has served as Department Chair, Associate Dean and Acting Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and faculty director of the Baltimore Scholars program.  He is the author or co-author of eight books dealing with issues of urban and national politics, the most recent of which is Baltimore: A Political History (2017).  Current Interests: Reading, Research, Lecturing, Writing.

Professor Emerita, History; PhD, Columbia University Toby Ditz received her PhD in Sociology from Columbia University in 1982. She came to Johns Hopkins University as an Assistant Professor in the same year and has remained at Johns Hopkins until her retirement in 2018.  Her main specialties are early American history/Atlantic history and the history of women and gender. She has published on inheritance, family life and the commercialization of agriculture; the culture of manhood and risk among eighteenth century transatlantic merchants; and race, manhood, and citizenship. Just before retiring she became interested in local public history.  Current Interests: Police Reform Legislation, Local Public History, Birding

Michael Fried

J.R. Herbert Boone Professor of Humanities and the History of Art; PhD, Harvard University B.A. Princeton, 1959. Rhodes Scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, 1959-61. Ph.D., History of Art, Harvard University, 1969.  Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, History of Art, Harvard University, 1868-75. Professor, Humanities Center and History of Art, Johns Hopkins University, 1975-2017. Numerous books including Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot , Art and Objecthood: Essays and Reviews , Manet’s Modernism , The Moment of Caravaggio , What Was Literary Impressionism? , French Suite: A Book of Essays , and others. Four books of poems, most recently Promesse du Bonheur . Delivered Andrew W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 2002 (on Caravaggio). Member American Philosophical Society. Corres–ponding member British Academy.  Member of the Ordre des Arts et Lettres. Current Interests: Art Criticism. Art History, Poetry, Literature

Louis Galambos

Professor Emeritus, History; PhD, Yale University Louis Galambos is a Research Professor in History.  He was formally a Professor of History and Editor of the Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower.  He received his PhD from Yale University (1960) and has been a Fellow at the Harvard Business School, the Woodrow Wilson Center, the Davis Center (Princeton University), the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Library of Congress.  His primary publications are in American business and economic history and the history of global public health since World War II.  He is currently writing a book on “Entrepreneurship & American Capitalism:  From Sir Walter Raleigh to Estee Lauder, Reginald Lewis, and Jeff Bezos.   Current Interests: Entrepreneurship, American Capitalism, Modern U.S. Political History, Global Public Health, the Pharmaceutical Industry

Mark Gersovitz

Professor of Economics Mark Gersovitz was educated at McGill (B.A.) and Yale (Ph.D., economics).  Among other positions, he was Senior Research Scientist at Princeton and Professor of Economics at Michigan, Ann Arbor before Hopkins. He has been advisor to the World Bank, the IMF, the UN, the Asian Development Bank and other governmental institutions and traveled professionally throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East.  He researches the economics of poor countries including: debt repudiation, expropriation; savings; public finance; agriculture and commodity markets; internal migration; health economics and the epidemiology of infectious diseases; political violence including austerity and commodity price riots and civil war.  Current Interests: Political violence, Foreign investors, Internal migration.

George Armstrong Kelly Professor Emerita, Anthropology Jane I. Guyer came to Johns Hopkins from Northwestern University in 2002, having served previously on the faculties of Harvard and Boston University. Her research career has been devoted to economic transformations in West Africa, particularly the productive economy, the division of labor and the management of money.

Richard Conn Henry

Professor of Physics and Astronomy; PhD, Princeton University Dick Henry joined the department in 1968 as its first astronomer. He is a member of the Principal Professional Staff, Johns Hopkins  Applied Physics Laboratory ; and a member of the JHU Center for Astrophysical Sciences. Since 1991, Henry has also served as director,  Maryland Space Grant Consortium Observatory , which is located atop the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, and which houses the Morris W. Offit telescope, a fine half-meter reflector.

Michael Johnson

Professor Emeritus, History; PhD, Stanford University Stanford PhD.  Professor of history, Johns Hopkins 1994-2014; University of California, Irvine, 1971-94. Published and taught United States history, especially the social and political history of the late eighteenth and nineteenth century South, including slavery, free people of color, the Civil War, and related topics. Directed or co-directed 33 completed PhD dissertations; served on committees of 44 additional completed PhD dissertations. Fellowships include awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Huntington Library Times Mirror Foundation Distinguished Research Fellow. Current Interests: Continued research and publication in United States history.

Richard L. Kagan

Arthur O. Lovejoy Professor Emeritus, History; PhD, Cambridge University Upon earning a Ph.D. in History from Cambridge University in 1968, Kagan taught at Indiana University before joining the Hopkins faculty in 1972. Specializing in the history of Spain and its overseas empire, tother with he is the author or editor of a dozen books and more than 100 articles and essays. His most recent publications examine the place of Hispanic culture in the United States. His next book, The Inquisition’s  Inquisitor: Henry Charles Lea of Philadelphia  (University of Pennsylvania Press) will be released in 2024.   Current Interests: Research, Writing, Professional service on various organizations 

Robert Kargon

Willis K. Shepard Professor Emeritus, History of Science; PhD, Cornell Prof. Kargon received his undergraduate and master’s degrees in physics from Duke and Yale, and his Ph.D. in history from Cornell. After a year at the University of Illinois, he came to Johns Hopkins in 1965, rising from assistant professor to professor. His books include Atomism in England from Hariot to Newton (1966), Science in Victorian Manchester: Enterprise and Expertise (1978), and The Rise of Robert Millikan: a Life in American Science (1981) among others. His most recent book, with co-authors, is World’s Fairs on the Eve of War: Science, Technology and Modernity 1937-1942 (2015). His ongoing interest is in the relation of science and technology to economic and social modernity, and he plans to continue these efforts in retirement.  Current Interests: Science, Technology, Modernity, Teaching, Public lecturing research 

Margaret Keck

Professor Emerita, Political Science; PhD, Columbia University Margaret Keck taught comparative politics, Latin American Politics, and environmental politics. She is the author or co-author of numerous articles and four prize-winning books, including  Practical Authority: Agency and Institutional Change in Brazilian Water Politic s (Oxford 2013), with Rebecca Abers;  Greening Brazil: Environmental Activism in State and Society  (Duke 2007), with Kathryn Hochstetler;  Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics  (Cornell 1998), with Kathryn Sikkink; and  The Workers’ Party and Democratization in Brazil  (Yale 1992). She has been doing research in Brazil since 1982.

Sharon E. Kingsland

Professor Emerita, History of Science; PhD, University of Toronto Sharon Kingsland (PhD 1981, University of Toronto) was on the faculty of the History of Science and Technology Department at Johns Hopkins University from 1981 to 2020. She studies the history of modern life sciences, especially ecology, and has published Modeling Nature: Episodes in the History of Population Ecology (1984; 2 nd ed. 1995); The Evolution of American Ecology, 1890-2000 (2005), and A Lab for All Seasons: The Laboratory Revolution in Modern Botany and the Rise of Physiological Plant Ecology (2023). She has co-edited volumes on the history of biology and agriculture, and on long-term ecological research.   Current Interests: History of biology, Ecological science, Plant ‘intelligence’ debates, Botanical science and popularization. 

Franklin W. Knight

Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor Emeritus, History; PhD, University of Wisconsin Madison Franklin W. Knight is Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor of History Emeritus, Academy Professor, and currently co-Chair of the Johns Hopkins University Academy of Scholars on the Homewood Campus. Born in Jamaica, Knight has higher academic degrees from the University of the West Indies, Mona and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1973. He has been honored by several international associations and in 2013 won the Gold Musgrave Medal from the Institute of Jamaica. Current Interests | Research, Writing, Lecturing, Consulting  

Yuan C. Lee

Professor of Biology; PhD, University of Iowa Dr. Yuan C. Lee graduated from National Taiwan Univ. (Agri. Chem) and obtained a PhD (Biochemistry) at Univ. of Iowa (Iowa City). After 3-yr postdoctoral training at Biochem. Dept. (under Prof. Clinton E. Ballou, he joined the Biology Dept. of Johns Hopkins Univ., as an Assistant Professor (1965). After Assist. Prof (1970), he became a Prof (2014-20). He joined the Academy in 2021. Although his main interest is in Glycobiology, especially disease-related problems. he promoted synthetic glycoproteins, coined “Neoglycoproteins”, through which he discovered the “Glycoside-clustering effect”. For example, mammalian hepatocytes bind tri-branched Galactose terminal 10 3 -fold stronger than a single galactose.  Current Interests: PATHOGEN-targeting oligosaccharide derivatives

Stuart W. Leslie

Professor of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Professor Leslie spent four decades at Johns Hopkins, primarily studying the Cold War in the US and globally.  He twice won the George Owen Award for undergraduate teaching, and supervised 19 PhD dissertations.  He served in a number of leadership roles for the Society of the History of Technology and the History of Science Society.  As a founding trustee of the D.W. Kim Foundation he has supported the history of modern East Asian science, technology, and medicine.  Most recently, he has studied architecture and urban geography, focusing on the aerospace industry in Southern California, and has written extensively on university and hospital design in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and East and West Africa.    Current Interests: Faculty Mentoring, History of Johns Hopkins University, History of underrepresented groups in the history of science, technology and medicine

Henry Wiesenfeld Professor Emerita of the Humanities; PhD, Harvard University Ruth Leys is a historian of science who specializes in the 20 th and 21 st -century history of the cognitive-, neuro- and psychological sciences.  Published works include Trauma: A Genealogy (2000), From Guilt to Shame: Auschwitz and After (2007); The Ascent of Affect: Genealogy and Critique (2017); and Newborn Imitation: The Stakes of an Idea (2020).  She has just completed a new book, Fast Thinking: A Critical History of Research on Priming and Automatic Action , under consideration at the University of Chicago Press.  These publications and related works reflect her long-standing engagement with problems associated with attempts to naturalize the properties of the mind, including claims regarding the information-processing character of the brain/mind.  Current Interests: The genealogy of the concept of “implicit prejudice”, the challenges involved in designing “affective AI” systems.   

Bruce D. Marsh

Professor Emeritus, Earth and Planetary Sciences; PhD, University of California, Berkeley Bruce Marsh came to Hopkins in 1974 from U.C. Berkeley as Assistant Professor. As a geologist he has spent his career studying planetary volcanic and magmatic processes through the combined application of field mapping, laboratory modelling, and theory. Building a school of thought centered on a holistic approach to understanding all facets of the origin and evolution of magma, training 32 Ph.D.’s., and working globally. He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Geological Society of America, Mineralogical Society of America, and the Royal Astronomical Society, and has received some awards. (See his TEDx lecture: “Volcanoes and Wine Tears”)  Current Interests: Geothermal Energy, Polar Exploration, Academy Leadership, Scholarship, Faculty Mentoring

P. Kyle McCarter, Jr.

William Foxwell Albright Professor Emeritus, Near Eastern Studies; PhD, Harvard University P. Kyle McCarter received his B.A. in English from the University of Oklahoma in 1967 and his Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from Harvard University in 1974. He was Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professor in the Department of Religious Studies of the University of Virginia from 1974 to 1985. In 1985 he became the William Foxwell Albright Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Studies in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, where he served until his retirement in 2018.  Current Interests: Researching the evolution of the alphabet, the close interpretation and reanalysis of biblical prose narrative, and ancient medicine .

Alice McDermott

Richard A. Macksey Professor of The Writing Seminars

Jean McGarry

Elliott Coleman Professor of The Writing Seminars Jean McGarry, formerly Elliott Coleman Professor, is a long-time faculty member in The Writing Seminars, with several stints as department chair and co-chair. She has an AB from Harvard and an MA from Johns Hopkins, and has published ten works of fiction, both novels and story collections. She’s recently completed a new story collection, and a memoir, entitled Herself and Others . At present, she’s writing a new novel, as yet untitled. She’s a graduate of the Baltimore-Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, where she was an academic associate. Current Interests: Undergraduate advising, Teaching, Mentoring, Presenting, Writing .

Stephen G. Nichols

James M. Beall Professor of French and Humanities Nichols is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, an Honorary Senior Fellow of the School of Criticism and Theory (which he directed from 1996-2001). He holds an honorary Docteur ès Lettres (University of Geneva), is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et Lettres (France), and received The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Prize in 2008, 2015, and 2023. A Yale University Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, he has written or edited some 28 books, primarily regarding the Middle Ages, including Romanesque Signs: Early Medieval Narrative and Iconography , which received the James Russell Lowell Prize for an outstanding book from the Modern Language Association. Nichols served as Interim Dean of the Johns Hopkins Libraries in 1994-95. He chaired the French Department, Romance Languages, and German and Romance Languages from 1996-2010. He co-directs JHU’s Digital Library of Medieval Manuscripts and co-founded the journal Digital Philology , (Project Muse, JHU Press). Current Interests: Teaching students to read archival handwritten documents; leading adult reading groups; interpreting medieval history and literature for an informed public. 

Maria M. Portuondo

Professor of History of Science and Technology Professor Portuondo earned a PhD in history of science and technology after a career as an electrical engineer. Her interests include early modern cosmography, technology and natural philosophy. She has published two prizewinning books: Secret Science: Spanish Cosmography and the New World (UCP, 2009) and The Spanish Disquiet: The Biblical Natural Philosophy or Benito Arias Montano (UCP, 2019). Her teaching explored a number of general themes in the history of science, such as epistemological issues of knowledge production, methodological aspects of scientific practice, intellectual history, the role of science in an imperial context, the relationship between science, technology and slavery, and science in the context of territorial exploration.  Current Interests: The history of technology in the colonial Caribbean, Mentoring, refereeing books and articles, and serving on advisory boards of several journals and programs. 

George D. Rose

Krieger-Eisenhower Professor Emeritus, Biophysics; PhD, Oregon State University George Rose holds a PhD from Oregon State University. Following a post-doc at the University of Delaware, he took a faculty position at Penn State University Medical Center, and, stopping at a few ports along the way, arrived at JHU in 1994. In 2018, he developed and taught an undergraduate course – “Thinking about thinking” – at Bard College. He is actively engaged in research on protein folding. 

Mary Jo Salter

Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of The Writing Seminars Mary Jo Salter received her B.A. cum laude in English from Harvard, and her M.A. First Class in English from Cambridge. An honorary Doctor of Letters of Amherst College, she spent many years teaching at Mount Holyoke College before coming to Johns Hopkins’s Writing Seminars department in 2006, retiring in 2022. Knopf has published all nine of her collections of poetry, most recently Zoom Rooms (2022). She has authored two children’s books, including the forthcoming Leena Learns to Talk (Minerva, 2024). Co-editor of three editions of The Norton Anthology of Poetry, she is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Current Interests: Writing, giving talks/readings, mentoring, serving on the council of the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers (ALSCW), serving as literary executor for two poets. 

H. Alan Shapiro

W. H. Collins Vickers Professor Emeritus, Archaeology; PhD, Princeton University Alan Shapiro is a classical archaeologist who holds degrees in Greek and archaeology from Swarthmore College, UC Berkeley, and Princeton. He came to Hopkins in 1997 after jobs at Columbia, Tulane, and Canterbury (New Zealand), as well as visiting positions in Munich, Cape Town, Athens, and Shanghai. He was most recently Dietrich von Bothmer Research Scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2020 to 2023. He has published widely on Greek art, history, and religion of the Archaic and Classical periods and organized exhibition of Greek art in New Orleans, Christchurch, New Zealand, and New York.  Current Interests: Greece, Athens, Archaeology, Mythology, Ceramics, Heroes, Theseus 

Bernard Shiffman

Professor Emeritus, Mathematics; PhD, University of California, Berkeley Bernard Shiffman received a B.S. from MIT in 1964 and a Ph.D. in mathematics from UC-Berkeley in 1968.  Before coming to Hopkins in 1973, he held post-doctoral positions at MIT and Yale. He received an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in 1973 and is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.  At Hopkins, he served twice as Chair of the Mathematics Department and served on the Faculty Editorial Board of the Hopkins Press and on the Homewood Academic Council.  He was Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Mathematics from 1993 to 2005.  His research is in complex geometry and mathematical analysis.  Current Interests: Surveys and publications on solutions of random functions and on geometric packing arrangements in macromolecular crystals

Harris J. Silverstone

Professor Emeritus, Chemistry; PhD, California Institute of Technology AB Harvard 1960; PhD Caltech 1964; Postdoc Yale 1964; Hopkins 1965-2018; Professor Emeritus 2018-present.     Professor Silverstone most recently invented the “educated match” method, which generalizes the Borel-Padé (and Padé approximant) method, to sum divergent (and convergent) power series, which occur in quantum chemistry and physics; an appropriate approximate function is constructed whose own series matches the first 2 n terms.    His earlier work treated the electric-field tunneling-ionization of the hydrogen atom, perturbation of hydrogen, general perturbation theory, the “JWKB” connection formula, convergence of the “configuration interaction” expansion, the long-distance behavior of “Hartree-Fock” orbitals, how electrons avoid each other in molecules, and quantum chemical calculations via Fourier transforms.  Current Interests: Summation of divergent power series, Molecular electronic structure, Baking breads, Scholarly lectures and discussions, Meetings of the Hopkins Academy

Walter Stephens

Charles S. Singleton Professor of Italian Studies, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures B.A. Yale, 1972, French and Italian; Ph.D. Cornell, 1979, Comparative Literature; Perfezionamento in Filosofia (Ph.D.) Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, 1984. Teaching: Lecturer in Italian, 1978–1979, Cornell; Assistant Professor of Italian, 1981–1983, University of Washington; Assistant, Associate, Full Professor of Italian, 1983–1999, Dartmouth College (1993–1999, Paul D. Paganucci Professor); Charles S. Singleton Professor of Italian Studies, Johns Hopkins, 1999–2022. Monographic Books Published: Giants in Those Days: Folklore, Ancient History, and Nationalism 1989 (French trans., 2006, 2022); Demon Lovers: Witchcraft, Sex, and the Crisis of Belief , 2002; How Writing made Us Human, 3000 BCE to Now , 2023.  Current Interests: Teaching, Mentoring; Research: Literary Forgery; Witchcraft Theory; Italian Studies; History of Writing. 

Darrell F. Strobel

Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Physics and Astronomy; PhD, Harvard University He is an expert in planetary atmospheres and astrophysics with a PhD in applied physics from Harvard, Docteur Honoris Causa, Observatoire de Paris; recipient Gerard P. Kuiper Prize, American Astronomical Society-Division for Planetary Sciences; American Geophysical Union fellow/3 sections; International Academy of Astronautics, member; Co-Investigator: Voyager Mission, New Horizon Pluto Mission, Space Shuttle (Atlantis-66) MAHRSI Instrument; Cassini Huygens Mission Interdisciplinary Scientist; and author of about 300 journal articles and book chapters. He started his career as a physicist at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, and then at the US Naval Research Laboratory, Plasma Physics Division before joining JHU in 1984.  Current Interests: Research, planetary atmospheres, outer solar system; Collaboration with current and former students, postdocs, colleagues on telescope observations by HST, JWST, ALMA. 

Ronald Walters

Professor Emeritus, History; PhD, University of California, Berkeley

John C. Wierman

Professor Emeritus, Applied Mathematics and Statistics; PhD, University of Washington Prof. Wierman earned his B.S. in 1971 and Ph.D. in 1976 from the University of Washington. He conducts research in probability, stochastic processes, statistics, graph theory, and combinatorics. He is an elected fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and of the Institute of Combinatorics and received the Paul Minton Service Award from the Southern Regional Council on Statistics. He served as Chair of the JHU Department of Mathematical Sciences from 1988 to 2000, and founded the Entrepreneurship & Management Minor and the Center for Leadership Education at JHU.  He develops the enrollment prediction model for the JHU Office of Admissions and serves as faculty advisor for the JHU varsity women’s soccer team.  Current Interests: Undergraduate Research, Academic Advising, Editorships, Professional Society Treasurer, JHU Women’s Soccer Team Advisor, Enrollment Prediction Modeling.