Ph.D. Degree Requirements

Course Requirement

The minimum requirement for the Ph.D. degree is four of the following courses: 7030, 7120, either 7210 or 7220, either 7230 or 7240, 7410, 7460 and 6830-40 (both courses count as 1). In addition two additional courses at the 7000 level (other than 7870-7900) must be taken.

Up to 24 hours of the 48 hours required for the Ph.D. may be taken in Chem 7890, Techniques of Research and special interest courses (6000 or above) offered by related departments.  Students should obtain prior approval of the Graduate Affairs Committee to insure courses taken in other departments will count toward the degree.

Cumulative Exams

Ph.D. candidates are required to pass 6 total cumulative exams, at least two by the end of their fourth semester of residence and all six by the end of the 6th semester. In addition, 3 of the 6 exams must be passed in the candidate's area of concentration.

Students failing to pass two cumes by the end of their fourth semester may be expelled from the program. Students unable to complete 6 cumes in 6 semesters will be automatically placed in the M.S. program and be expected to complete the M.S. thesis by the end of the seventh semester.

Seminar

Registration for, and attendance at, Department seminars is required. Up to six (6.0) hours of credit for seminar courses may be applied to the Ph.D. degree requirements. All Ph.D. candidates must present a seminar to the Department based upon a topic from the current chemical literature. The seminar must be presented before the end of the students' 4th semester in residence. The seminar should be scheduled with the chemistry department coordinator for seminar programs. Students presenting seminars are required to enlist two faculty to attend their seminar and provide a the faculty with a Seminar Review Form for a written review of the quality of the presentation; the Seminar Review Form can be obtained from below and also appended in the back of this book. Students should remember that faculty will only agree to attend if given sufficient notice (one to two weeks) before seminar.

Seminar Review Form

Tenure Requirement

The maximum time allowed by the SSE Graduate Program for completion of the Ph.D. degree is seven years. The Department, however, strongly encourages students to attempt to complete requirements in no more than five years.

Dissertation Committee

After choosing a research advisor, (no later than the fourth semester of residence), students must obtain agreements from three faculty members (other than the thesis advisor) to participate as members of their thesis committee. Two members must be within the division of the research advisor and one member of the committee must be from a division other than that of the research advisor. Students must submit to the Chemistry Department a signed and completed Thesis / Dissertation Committee Form. The form can be obtained from below and also appended in the back of this book.

Research Advisor Selection Form

Thesis / Dissertation Committee Form

Thesis Research Presentation

By the end of the fifth semester students must submit a written proposal of their dissertation research project and make an oral presentation of it to their dissertation committee. This proposal should be no less than 3 and no more than 10 pages in length and include an approximate one-page introduction giving the background and rationale for the proposed research problem, the approaches to be used to solve the problems and the anticipated results together with pertinent references (the Dissertation Research Proposal  will normally form the basis for the SSE Graduate Program Prospectus). committee.

Dissertation

The Ph.D. dissertation must reflect the ability of the student to conduct an independent investigation which results in an original contribution to knowledge or an original interpretation of existing knowledge. The research is expected to be reported to the scientific community in the form of publications in refereed journals and/or conference presentations. The student should consult the Graduate Program office to determine the proper format for the Ph.D. dissertation. Upon completion of all other Ph.D. requirements, the student will stand a final oral defense of his Ph.D. dissertation. This final examination will consist principally of the defense of the dissertation, but may be extended at the discretion of the Ph.D. examining committee to include course material. The satisfactory completion of this final requirement completes the students doctoral program.