This below information is first compiled in Jan. 2017.
Options
Depending on your technical chops, here are some options we've thought about- your mileage may vary.
Install a non-Chrome Linux OS on your existing Chromebook laptop. Know that "tricking" your laptop to accept a non-ChromeOS may be tricky. Choose an OS which has the drivers you need, obviously.
Install Windows (v10, presumably) on your existing Chromebook laptop. Know that "tricking" your laptop to accept a non-ChromeOS may be tricky. Good news: As a researcher, most grad students can at least obtain Windows for free via Chemistry's "premium" subscription to Microsoft Imagine's service.
Invest in a new laptop which has Windows installed. Cheap laptops cost $200-250, same as the ChromeOS you bought. Here's a $211 example: <https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/ASUS-Vivobook-E200HA-US01-11.6in-Atom-x5-Z8300-2-GB-RAM-32-GB-SSD/4071911.aspx>. If you expect to use it primarily for browsing and using cloud services, should "perform" as well as your current cloud-dependent laptop. It would nominally be able to run ChemDraw and MS Office apps, for what that's worth on a low-powered system.
Within your ChromeOS, "print" to PDF and get that file that to a computer which can print to your group's printer. Workflow idea: Set up a folder in Google drive to store files you want to print. "Print" that that folder. From a computer you can print from, actually print the files you put in that folder, and delete the files.