THE ALBERT NERKEN SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
Robert Q. Topper, Chair and Professor of Chemistry212.353.4378
robert.topper@cooper.edu
Faculty Bio
Textbook for Spring 2026: Physical Chemistry for the Chemical Sciences by Chang and Thoman (University Science Press, 2014). See here: http://www.uscibooks.com/chang3.htm . This book is available in both hardcopy and electronic formats.
This is a unique course to the Cooper Union. Taught solely by the full-time faculty, this course provides chemical and interdisciplinary engineering majors with a first year, calculus-based chemistry course focused on thermodynamics, kinetic theory, intermolecular forces, critical phenomena, phase transitions, real solutions, colligative properties, electrochemistry, and chemical kinetics, introducing important concepts such as activity, fugacity, and Debye-Huckel theory along the way. It provides an important intellectual link between chemistry, mathematics and physics during the crucial first year of studies and ensures a strong foundation in thermodynamics for engineers. Ch 161 provides the foundation for all subsequent courses in chemistry taken by our chemical engineering majors and students from other majors who are minoring in chemistry.