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College of Arts and Sciences Department of Chemistry

Course Requirements

Graduate School Requirements

The Graduate School requires all Ph.D. students to complete 28 semester hours of graded coursework beyond the bachelor’s degree. Up to nine 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 and above also meet this requirement. The Graduate School further requires students to complete 43 additional credit hours of non-graded (Satisfactory/Pass) coursework. Non-graded coursework includes the credit granted for doctoral research.

Department of Chemistry Requirements

The Department of Chemistry graduate course breadth requirement is that all Ph.D. students complete one 3 credit graduate (500 level or above) core course in their area of specialization. For example, a first-semester Organic student would take Chem 542 (Advanced Organic Chemistry, 3 credits) satisfying the core course within the division, and two other courses selected from a list of division electives. All chemistry graduate students are required to complete one credit of Chem 590 (Introduction to Research) in their fall semester of the first year. Graduate students who are appointed as teaching assistants are also required to complete 1 credit of Chem 555 (Teaching Workshop). Full-time graduate students in the chemistry department enroll between 10-16 credit hours each semester and these hours are divided into graded and non-graded coursework. Specific course requirements for each division are given below.

Divisional/Program Requirements for a Ph.D.

Department of Chemistry Required Courses by division

Analytical, Environmental Radiochemistry (AER)

  • Chem 520 Advanced Analytical Chemistry

Inorganic Chemistry

  • Chem 501 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry I
  • Chem 503 Topics in Inorganic Chemistry

Organic & Bioorganic Chemistry

  • Chem 542 Advanced Organic Chemistry

Physical Chemistry

  • Chem 531 Advanced Physical Chemistry I
  • Chem 532 Advanced Physical Chemistry II
  • Chem 509 Group Theory
  • Chem 534 Chemical Statistical Mechanics
  • Chem 564 Molecular Phenomena

Materials Chemistry

  • Chem 531 Advanced Physical Chemistry I
  • Chem 480 Solid State Chemistry
  • Chem 501 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry
  • Chem 542 Advanced Organic Chemistry
  • MSE 505 Advanced Materials Science
  • MATSE 571 Microscopic Analysis of Solid Surfaces
Additional electives to be considered by the student and their PI.
  • English 545 Graduate Student Writing Workshop