Physical Chemistry
All students formally admitted for graduate study by the Department of Chemistry are eligible to complete their graduate course and research requirements in the Physical Chemistry division. Students with undergraduate degrees in Chemistry or related fields are eligible for admission into the graduate program of the Department of Chemistry. Students in unrelated fields who have completed significant undergraduate coursework in Chemistry are also eligible for admission. Students who do not hold ACS certified degrees in Chemistry may be asked to include selected undergraduate courses in Chemistry in their graduate course program.
Timetable for Progress toward the Ph.D. in the Physical Chemistry Division
First Year
First year students will be advised to take courses based on review of the student's previous coursework. Graduate students in the Physical Chemistry division are expected to complete three courses in each of their first two semesters of study. Formal Ph.D. course requirements in the Physical Chemistry division are listed below in Appendix A. First year students are also expected to meet with at least three Chemistry faculty to discuss potential Ph.D. research projects. The selection of a research supervisor should be made by the end of the second semester. Once the decision to join a group has been made, the student is expected to initiate research activities. The summer of the first year is normally devoted to full time research.
Second Year
Continue coursework and research activities. According to Graduate School requirements, students who intend to pursue a Ph.D. degree must submit a Program for Doctoral Degree form to the Graduate School by the end of the third semester. The form requires the student to supply the names and signatures of Ph.D. committee members (Appendix B) and to present a list of completed and future courses that are intended to satisfy the Chemistry Department and Graduate School Ph.D. course requirements.
Admission to candidacy in Physical Chemistry is based upon a set of cumulative exams, a written proposal, and an oral defense of the proposal. The cumulative exams will be administered on a rotating basis by a Physical Chemistry faculty member, a different member for each exam. The administrator will write one question and will solicit two more from Physical Chemistry faculty of his or her choice. The administrator will supervise grading and report the results to the students and to the convener for the division. The exams will have the following characteristics:
- A total of 5 exams will be given during the course of a student’s 2nd year, approximately one every 7 weeks.
- Each exam will consist of 3 questions chosen semi-randomly from the subjects represented by the five Physical Chemistry core courses (Chem 509, 531, 532, 534, 564). Every effort will be made to provide questions that require understanding of more than one of the 5 required areas of study. Every effort will be made to balance the questions over the 5 exams so that any one area will not be overly probed.
- The topics covered will be based upon the courses offered during the previous year and those courses currently offered. It is the students responsibility to either take the appropriate courses or to know the equivalent material.
- All questions will be graded as Pass/Fail and successful completion of the Cumulative Exams will require passing a total of 6 out of 15 questions. Students who pass this requirement are then immediately eligible to apply to submit the proposal and complete the oral preliminary examination. Thus, early completion by well-prepared students will enable faster scheduling of the oral exam.
- Failure to obtain at least 4 passing scores by the end of the 2nd year will constitute a failure of the Cumulative Exam and the student will be placed in the M.S. degree track.
- Students who pass at least 4 questions but less than the required 6 will be placed on probationary status. This must be resolved within the first two Cumulative Exams of the following session. Within these two exams the student will be required to pass twice the number of questions that were deficient in his/her first round of exams.
Students who pass the cumulative examination are eligible to apply to complete the oral preliminary examination. The application to complete the oral preliminary examination must be submitted prior to the first day of the student’s fifth semester. The application should include the research proposal (Appendix C), the names of Ph.D. committee members (Appendix B), a list of courses completed by the student and future courses that the student intends to complete to satisfy course requirements, and an examination date that has been agreed to by the student and the Ph.D. committee. The oral examination must be held no later than the end of the third week of the fifth semester.
Third Year
Students who successfully complete the written cumulative examination on their first attempt are expected to complete the oral preliminary examination by the end of the third week of the fifth semester. The oral preliminary examination will be based on the content of the research proposal (Appendix C) submitted by the student as part of the application to complete the oral examination. The oral examination will be conducted before the Ph.D. committee in accordance with the rules set forth by the Graduate School. The oral examination is an opportunity for the student to express his/her potential for original creative research, for communicating his/her thoughts clearly and concisely, and for utilizing his/her background to solve problems. The oral examination will consist of a 45 minute presentation by the student based on the research proposal followed by a question and answer session by the Ph.D. committee. Student performance on the oral preliminary examination will be rated pass or fail by the Ph.D. committee. Students who pass are granted formal candidacy for the doctoral degree. Students who fail will be required to re-take the oral preliminary examination at a later time under conditions set forth by the Ph.D. committee in accordance with Graduate School policies. Students who fail the oral preliminary examination a second time will be placed in the M.S. degree track and will no longer be eligible for Ph.D. studies.
Fourth and Fifth Years
Students are expected to complete original research leading to a doctoral thesis in the fourth and fifth years. Doctoral dissertations are normally completed by the end of the fifth year. The research advisor and thesis committee monitor research progress during this period. A final oral defense of thesis completes the Ph.D. requirements.
Teaching Requirements
Teaching is an important mechanism for reinforcing basic knowledge and developing the communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills necessary for future success. Most students find teaching to be a rewarding and satisfying endeavor and consider it to be a valuable component of their educational experiences in the department. Accordingly, the Physical Chemistry division requires all graduate students to complete at least one year of teaching duties in the department.
Annual Progress Report
The Graduate School requires the department to annually evaluate the progress of graduate students toward completion of their degree requirements. The evaluation is conducted shortly after the end of the Spring semester each year by the Associate Chair of the department in consultation with a student's research advisor and teaching supervisor.
Students should submit a written statement of their progress to their research advisor by the end of the Spring semester each year. Students are expected to perform well in coursework, teaching and research in order to remain in good standing in the department and Graduate School. A grade point average of 3.0 or above is formally required to maintain good academic standing. A student's teaching evaluations and research progress will also be considered in the annual evaluation. Students will be provided with a written evaluation of their progress each year by the department.
APPENDIX A - Course Requirements for the Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry
Graduate School Requirements
The Graduate School requires all Ph.D. students to complete 34 semester hours of graded (A-F) coursework beyond the Bachelor's degree. Up to 9 semester hours of the requirement may be selected from non-graduate (300 or 400 level) courses not previously taken by the student. Graded seminar courses numbered 500 or above also meet the requirement. The Graduate School further requires students to complete 38 additional credit hours of non-graded (Pass/Fail) coursework. Non-graded coursework includes the credit granted for doctoral research.
Chemistry Department Requirements
The Chemistry Department graduate course breadth requirement requires all Ph.D. students to complete one three credit graduate (500 level or above) core course in each of two divisional areas outside of their divisional area of specialization. The currently approved department core courses are listed below. Note that two courses in a single outside divisional area do not satisfy this requirement.
The Chemistry Department also requires that all students enroll for one credit of Chern 590 (Introduction to Research Topics) in their first semester.
In order to serve as Teaching Assistants, Graduate students are also required to complete 1 credit of Chern 555 - Teaching Workshop.
Department of Chemistry Approved Core Courses
Analytical/EnvironmentallRadiochemistry
Chem 520 - Advanced Analytical Chemistry
Inorganic/Bioinorganic
Chem 501 - Inorganic/Bioinorganic Principles Organic/Bioorganic
Chem 503 - Advanced Inorganic
Organic
Chem 540 - Organic Mechanisms
Chem 542 - Synthesis/Advanced Synthesis
Physical/Materials
Chem 531 - Advanced Physical Chemistry I
Chem 430 - Applied Spectroscopy
Chem 580 - Solid State Chemistry
Physical Chemistry Division Requirements
The Physical Chemistry division requires students to complete:
Chem 509 - Chemical Group Theory
Chem 531 - Advanced Physical Chemistry I (Introduction to physical chemistry)
Chem 532 - Advanced Physical Chemistry II (Quantum Mechanics)
Chem 534 - Statistical Mechanics
Chem 564 - Molecular Phenomena (Spectroscopy)
These courses constitute the core knowledge in physical chemistry that will be tested on the writtencumulative exams. The Physical Chemistry division also requires that students complete one semester of Chern 537 - Current Topics in Physical Chemistry and enroll in Chem 593 - Seminar in Physical Chemistry - each semester for one credit during their period of study in the department.
Chem 593 is a graded student seminar course designed to provide students the opportunity to develop speaking and presentation skills in research areas of interest to them. Students will normally be expected to present one 45 minute seminar on a research topic of their choice each semester after their first semester . Topics covered in Chem 537 and 593 will not be included in the preliminary examination.
APPENDIX B - Selection of Ph.D. Committee
Ph.D. students are required by the Graduate School to select a Ph.D. Committee by the end of their third semester and to submit the names and signatures of the committee members, along with a course program, to the Graduate School. The information should be provided on the Graduate School's Program for Doctoral Degree form.
The current policy in the Chemistry Department is that the Ph.D. committee should consist of four members: the research advisor, two people from any division in the Chemistry Department, and a fourth person from either a division in the Chemistry Department other than the student's or from an outside department who is knowledgeable in the student's area of research.
Once a committee is selected, the student is required to provide annual written updates to each committee member of their progress toward completion of the Ph.D. course and research requirements. The progress reports should be submitted each year prior to the end of the Spring semester so that they may also be used by the Chemistry Department in its annual evaluation of graduate students.
APPENDIX C - Research Proposal
The oral preliminary examination for formal Ph.D. candidacy. will be based on a written research proposal submitted by the student not later than the first day of the fifth semester of study.
The research proposal should be based on the student's intended Ph.D. thesis research project. The style, content, format and length of the research proposal should conform to current National Science Foundation guidelines. The guidelines are contained in NSF's Grant Proposal Guide which can be obtained at http://www.nsf.gov.
The research proposal should include a review of the scientific literature relevant to the proposed project, a presentation of preliminary results obtained by the student, a discussion of the proposed Ph.D. research problem and its significance, and an outline of the procedures and timeline for completing the proposed research. The content of the research proposal will be the basis of the oral preliminary examination.