Program Overview

Chemistry Program Overview

The Department of Chemistry offers programs of study leading to the Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Science degrees. These degrees are based on coursework and original research. Many research projects merge disciplines such as chemical/synthetic biology, biophysics/physics, computational science, informatics, photonics/photophysics, and materials science with chemistry.

Master's Degree Requirements

The Master of Science (M.S.) degree in chemistry is a research degree that requires six graduate courses, a minimum of 30 credit hours, and research leading to a thesis.

Doctoral Degree Requirements

In the doctoral program, emphasis is placed on original research and a comprehensive knowledge of one's chosen field.

Student Financial Support

Incoming graduate students are supported by departmental teaching assistantships. Outstanding applicants are eligible for supplemental fellowships during their first year of study. Research assistantships are normally available to second-, third-, and fourth-year students. The department also has fellowships for students interested in the area of electronic materials, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical and synthetic organic chemistry, as well as travel funds to attend and deliver an oral presentation at professional meetings.

Admission Requirements

Applicants should have an undergraduate degree in chemistry or in a closely related field with a strong chemistry background. A GPA of at least 3.0 in the sciences is needed for consideration. GRE General Test scores are not required. Admission decisions are made as completed applications are received. For most favorable consideration for the Fall term, all application materials should be received by January 15 (both domestic and international students).

Applicant Information

• Delivery Method: On Campus
• Entrance Exam: None
• Interview Required:

Application Deadlines

• Fall: January 15th (US and Intl)

Degrees

• Chemistry (MS)
• Chemistry (PhD)
• Chemistry (Minor)

Faculty

Full Professors

• Sabre Kais
• Felix Nicholas Castellano
• Stefan Franzen
• Reza Ghiladi
• Edith Glazer
• Christopher B. Gorman
• Elon Ison
• Elena Jakubikova
• Jonathan S. Lindsey
• Lucian Lucia
• Thomas Makris
• James D. Martin
• David C. Muddiman
• Alexander A. Nevzorov
• Maria T. Oliver-Hoyo
• Walter James Pfaendtner
• Joshua Pierce
• David A. Shultz
• Alexej I. Smirnov
• Brian Space
• Gavin John Williams
• Yi Xiao
• Yaroslava G Yingling

Associate Professors

• Nelson R. Vinueza Benitez
• Yevgeny Brudno
• Wei-Chen Chang
• Ryan Chiechi
• Vincent Lindsay
• Caroline Proulx
• Tatyana I. Smirnova
• Thomas Theis

Assistant Professors

• Raja Ghosh
• Milena Jovanovic
• Xiaotong Li
• Jun Ohata

Practice/Research/Teaching Professors

• Jeremiah Feducia
• Audrey Fikes
• Daniel Fowler
• David Heidary
• Ana Ison
• Kirsten Kramer
• Naish Lalloo
• Cassie Lilly
• Marion Martin
• Gregory S. McCarty
• Lori Petrovich
• Ghada Rabah
• Kay Sandberg
• Laura Sremaniak
• Masahiko Taniguchi
• Travis Varner
• Maxim Voynov

Emeritus Faculty

• Robert D. Bereman
• Charles Boss
• Edmond Bowden
• Phil Brown
• Carl L. Bumgardner
• Halbert H. Carmichael
• Daniel L. Comins
• Forrest W. Getzen
• Forrest C. Hentz
• Morteza Khaledi
• S. Levine
• Gregory Neyhart
• William L. Switzer
• Robert Warren
• Dennis W. Wertz
• Myung H. Whangbo
• Jerry L. Whitten

Adjunct Faculty

• V. Bornemann

Courses

• CH 563/CH 463 Molecular Origins of Life (3 credit hours)
  Survey of the present state of understanding of the molecular mechanisms leading to the emergence of sustainable self-replicating systems in the prebiotic era on the early Earth, including historical context, experimental studies, and theoretical foundation.
• CH 572/BIT 572/BIO 572 Proteomics (3 credit hours)
  Introduction and history of the field of proteomics followed by the principles and applications of proteomics technology to understand protein expression and protein post-translational modifications.
• CH 601 Seminar (1 credit hours)
  Review and discussion of scientific articles, progress reports on research and special problems of interest to chemists.
• CH 610 Special Topics In Chemistry (1-6 credit hours)
  Detailed study of a particular problem or technique pertaining to chemistry.
• CH 690 Master's Examination (1-9 credit hours)
  For students in non-thesis master's programs who have completed all other requirements of the degree except preparing for and taking the final master's exam.
• CH 693 Master's Supervised Research (1-9 credit hours)
  Instruction in research and research under the mentorship of a member of the Graduate Faculty.
• CH 695 Master's Thesis Research (1-9 credit hours)
  Thesis research.
• CH 696 Summer Thesis Research (1 credit hours)
  For graduate students whose programs of work specify no formal course work during a summer session and who will be devoting full time to thesis research.
• CH 699 Master's Thesis Preparation (1-9 credit hours)
  For students who have completed all credit hour requirements and full-time enrollment for the master's degree and are writing and defending their thesis.
• CH 701 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry I: Structure and Bonding (3 credit hours)
  Study of periodic table/trends, symmetry and molecular orbital theory of small molecules and extended structures, transition-metal coordination complexes, acid/base and redox reactivity of polyatomic ions, solid-state structures, and selected special topics.
• CH 703 Advanced Inorganic Chemistry II: Applications of Group Theory to Bonding and Spectroscopy (3 credit hours)
  This course uses group theory as the basis for developing molecular orbital theory, vibrational spectroscopy, and electronic spectroscopy.
• CH 705 Organometallic and Inorganic Reaction Mechanism (3 credit hours)
  Coverage of concepts of bonding and structure of transition metal complexes with emphasis on the interaction of transition metal fragments with organic ligands; study of experimental methods of mechanistic study; treatment of inorganic and organometallic reactions including metal-mediated organic synthesis, metal-catalyzed polymer synthesis, and models of bioinorganic systems.
• CH 711 Advanced Analytical Chemistry I (3 credit hours)
  First semester of two-semester integrated sequence covering advanced methods for extraction and interpretation of chemical information from electronic/optical signals in chemical analysis.
• CH 721 Advanced Organic Chemistry I (3 credit hours)
  Introduction to physical organic chemistry. Topics include: bonding/introductory molecular orbital theory, reactive intermediates, aromaticity, pericyclic reactions, thermochemistry, linear free-energy relationships, kinetics, and transition-state theory.
• CH 723 Advanced Organic Chemistry II (3 credit hours)
  Introduction to acid-base theory and mechanistic organic chemistry as applied to synthetically useful organic reactions.
• CH 725 Physical Methods in Organic Chemistry (3 credit hours)
  Application of physical methods to the solution of structural problems in organic chemistry. Methods discussed include electronic absorption spectroscopy, vibrational spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and mass spectrometry.
• CH 727/BIO 727 Biological Mass Spectrometry (3 credit hours)
  Fundamentals of mass spectrometry including topics such as: mass, isotopic distributions, resolving power, mass accuracy. Ionization source topics: electron impact, chemical ionization, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization, electrospray ionization and contemporary methods.
• CH 730 Advanced Physical Chemistry (3 credit hours)
  Survey of chemical thermodynamics and kinetics, with emphasis on reactions in liquid phase. Problem solving an important part of course.
• CH 732 Advanced Physical Chemistry in Biological Applications (3 credit hours)
  Modern views on structure, function, and thermodynamic stability of biological macromolecules including proteins, nucleic acids, and biological membranes; theories and models of protein folding, high resolution experimental methods for structure determination of soluble and membrane proteins including solution and solid-state NMR spectroscopy.
• CH 734 Spectroscopic Methods in Chemical Biology (3 credit hours)
  Physical principles underlying the experimental spectroscopic methods used to study structure and dynamics of biological macromolecules.
• CH 735 Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry (3 credit hours)
  This course is focused on physical and quantum mechanical principles that make magnetic resonance the most important spectroscopic technique in chemistry.
• CH 736 Chemical Spectroscopy (3 credit hours)
  Introduction to rotational, vibrational and electronic molecular spectroscopy from a quantum mechanical viewpoint.
• CH 737 Quantum Chemistry (3 credit hours)
  Elements of wave mechanics applied to stationary energy states and time-dependent phenomena. Applications of quantum theory to chemistry, particularly chemical bonds.
• CH 743 Electrochemistry (3 credit hours)
  Thermodynamics and kinetics of electrode reactions presented as well as experimental methods for studying them.
• CH 745 Chemical Separation (3 credit hours)
  Basic principles of methods in chemical separation including gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, etc.
• CH 755 Organic Reaction Mechanisms (3 credit hours)
  Effects of structure and substituents on direction and rates of organic reactions; detailed analysis of organic reaction mechanisms and how they can be controlled; prediction of the product outcome in stereoselective reactions.
• CH 765 Chemistry of Materials (3 credit hours)
  Detailed examination of the relationship between chemical structure and physical properties of materials with potential use in applications.
• CH 770 Bioinorganic Chemistry (3 credit hours)
  The interface between inorganic and biological chemistry will be explored, focusing on the catalytic processes in metalloenzymes, and with an emphasis on the diverse roles of transition metals in biology.
• CH 772 Solid State Chemistry (3 credit hours)
  Selected topics in solid-state chemistry including: extended symmetry, structure, bonding, characterizations, and special topics.
• CH 795 Special Topics in Chemistry (1-6 credit hours)
• CH 801 Seminar (1 credit hours)
  Review and discussion of scientific articles, progress reports on research and special problems of interest to chemists.
• CH 810 Special Topics In Chemistry (1-6 credit hours)
  Detailed study of a particular problem or technique pertaining to chemistry.
• CH 890 Doctoral Preliminary Examination (1-9 credit hours)
  For students who are preparing for and taking written and/or oral preliminary exams.
• CH 893 Doctoral Supervised Research (1-9 credit hours)
  Instruction in research and research under the mentorship of a member of the Graduate Faculty.
• CH 895 Doctoral Dissertation Research (1-9 credit hours)
  Dissertation research.
• CH 896 Summer Dissertation Research (1 credit hours)
  For graduate students whose programs of work specify no formal course work during a summer session and who will be devoting full time to thesis research.
• CH 899 Doctoral Dissertation Preparation (1-9 credit hours)
  For students who have completed all credit hour, full-time enrollment, preliminary examination, and residency requirements for the doctoral degree, and are writing and defending their dissertations.