Program Overview
Chemistry (Ph.D.) Program Details
Degree Requirements
The Chemistry Ph.D. program requires the following:
- Required coursework
- Qualifying or comprehensive examination
- Graduate School writing proficiency requirement
- Graduate School Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) requirement
- Dissertation
- Final oral examination/Dissertation defense
Research Areas & Interests
Faculty Areas of Expertise
The faculty's areas of expertise include:
- Organic Chemistry
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Organic Geochemistry
- Physical Chemistry
- Biochemistry
- Analytical Chemistry
- Planetary science
A list of faculty members and their research areas is provided below:
- Oladapo Bakare: Organic Chemistry
- Raymond Butcher: Inorganic Chemistry
- Henderson Cleaves: Organic Geochemistry
- Steven Cummings: Inorganic Chemistry
- Helen De Clercq: Physical Chemistry
- Mirza Galib: Physical Chemistry
- John Harkless: Physical Chemistry
- Dinari Harris: Biochemistry
- Gagandeep Kaur: Biochemistry
- Sung Kim: Biochemistry
- Jason Matthews: Organic Chemistry
- Dharmaraj Raghavan: Organic Chemistry
- Timothy Ramadhar: Organic Chemistry
- Norma Small-Warren: Planetary science
- Galina Talanova: Analytical Chemistry
Sampling of Research
A sampling of research interests includes:
- Structural, functional, and compositional analysis of bacterial cell walls
- Bioinorganic chemistry of 1st-row transition metals
- Structural chemistry of pharmaceutically active compounds
- Physical chemistry (experiment) and spectroscopy
- Cellular trafficking and exocytosis of matrix-metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) in cancer progression and metastasis
- Identification and characterization of genes involved in RNA silencing (siRNA, miRNA, endo-siRNA, and piRNA) in Drosophila Melanogaster
- Probing the adsorption and orientation of 2,3-dichloro-5,8-dimethoxy-1,4-naphthoquinone on gold nanorods
- Application and development of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to characterize the peptidoglycan compositions in bacteria
- Discovery of potential therapeutic agents from insect-associated symbiotic bacteria
- Investigating the modulatory roles of small molecules in biological systems
Modern Research Facilities
Analytical Instrumentation Capabilities
The program has access to the following analytical instrumentation:
- Bruker 400MHz NMR
- Agilent Accurate-Mass TOF LC/MS
- Oxford Single Crystal X-Ray Diffractometer
- GENESYS 150 UV-Vis Spectrophotometer
- Perkin Elmer Spectrum 100 FTIR
Computational Capabilities
The program's computational capabilities include:
- Department Computer Laboratory: 6 - iMacs (6-core, intel core i5 processor, 16 GB memory)
- 1 - ACT station Linus Machine (CentOS, 44-Core, 192 GB Memory)
- Software: Gaussian16, GaussView 6, SPARTAN, MatLab, Mathematica
Program of Study
Core Courses
The core courses for the program are:
- CHEM 201: Inorganic Chemistry
- CHEM 231: Advanced Analytical Chemistry
- CHEM 243: Advanced Organic Chemistry
- CHEM 278: Advanced Physical Chemistry I
- CHEM 279: Advanced Physical Chemistry II
Elective Courses
A sampling of elective courses includes:
- CHEM 201: Physical Inorganic Chemistry
- CHEM 228: Special Topics in Spectroscopy
- CHEM 229: Electroanalytical Chemistry
- CHEM 235: Techniques in Analytical Chemistry
- CHEM 238: Chemical Instrumentation
- CHEM 251: General Biochemistry
- CHEM 258: Biophysical Chemistry
- CHEM 260: Surfactant Synthesis
- CHEM 266: Physical Properties of Polymers
- CHEM 268: Polymer Characterization
- CHEM 272: Statistical Chemical Thermodynamics
- CHEM 275: Quantum Chemistry
- CHEM 284: Introduction to Molecular Modeling
- CHEM 297: Planetary Atmospheres I
Dissertation
The dissertation requirement is 12 credits.
Admission to Candidacy
Students are admitted to formal candidacy by the Graduate School when they have completed the required coursework, passed the qualifying or comprehensive examination, submitted an approved topic for research, and been recommended by the Department. Candidates must also have satisfied the Graduate School writing proficiency requirement and Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) requirement.
Graduate Funding
Admitted students may be eligible to compete for Graduate School competitive awards, which provide tuition remission and a stipend during the academic year. Additionally, graduate research or teaching assistantships may be available at the department level. Research assistants and teaching assistants work no more than 20 hours a week under the program's direction, usually in support of faculty research (research assistants) or in support of assigned courses (teaching assistants).