Program Structure and Requirements
Overall Program Structure
| Category |
Credit Hours |
| Core Courses |
12 |
| Technical Electives |
24 |
| SCIE 702 PhD Research Seminar I |
0 |
| SCIE 703 PhD Research Seminar II |
0 |
| SCIE 795 PhD Written Qualifying Exam |
0 |
| SCIE 796 PhD Research Proposal Exam |
0 |
| PhD Research Dissertation |
36 |
| Total |
72 |
All the courses that the students will take are at PhD level. The students will only be able to attempt SCIE PhD Written Qualifying Exam (WQE) after successfully completing a minimum of 27 credits of formal coursework.
Program Requirements
Students seeking the degree of PhD in Chemistry must successfully complete a minimum 72 credit hours as specified in the program requirements detailed below, with a minimum CGPA of 3.0. Course selection should be made in consultation with the student’s Main Advisor. All courses listed below have a credit rating of three credits each, except for PhD Research Seminar, Written Qualifying Exam, Research Proposal Exam, and the PhD Research Dissertation.
Program Core (12 credit hours)
Students must complete SCIE 701 Research Methods in Science in addition to 9 credits from the list of technical courses below.
Core Courses
| SCIE 701 | Research Methods in Science | 3 |
| CHEM 701 | Methods and Techniques in Chemical research | 3 |
| CHEM 704 | Electrochemistry & Corrosion S | 3 |
| CHEM 705 | Synthesis & Reaction Mechanism | 3 |
Program Electives (24 credit hours)
Students must complete a total of eight elective courses (24 credits) from the list of program elective courses below.
Program Elective Courses
| CHEM 711 | Recent Developments in Inorganic Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 712 | Recent Developments in Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 713 | Recent Advances in Physical Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 714 | Recent Developments in Analytical Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 715 | Recent Developments in Nanochemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 716 | Recent Developments in Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 717 | Advanced topics in Biochemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 719 | Adv in Energy Storage Material | 3 |
| CHEM 720 | Adv Topics in Theoretical Chem | 3 |
| CHEM 721 | Green Analytical & Bioanalytic | 3 |
| CHEM 722 | Adv Topics in Organic Chem | 3 |
| CHEM 723 | Advanced Polymer Chemistry | 3 |
| CHEM 799 | Entrepreneurship in Chemistry-Science | 3 |
Subject to approval of the Main Advisor and the Program Coordinator, up to two electives (6 credits) may be taken from outside the student’s department, if these courses support the student’s dissertation topic. Suggested courses are listed below.
Elective Courses from Other Departments
Mathematics
| MATH 705 | Mechanics of interacting particles | 3 |
| MATH 707 | Nonlinear Optimization | 3 |
| MATH 708 | Partial Differential Equations | 3 |
| MATH 777 | Mathematical Models for Biology and Epidemiology | 3 |
Earth Sciences
| ERTH 720 | Organic Geochemistry | 3 |
| ERTH 723 | Isotope Geochemistry of Sedimentary Systems | 3 |
Physics
Biomedical Engineering
Chemical Engineering
Civil Engineering
| CIVE 720 | Nanotechnology in Water Purification | 3 |
Electrical Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
| MSEN 712 | Imaging of Materials: Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-ray Microanalysis | 3 |
| MSEN 715 | Advanced Imaging of Materials: Transmission Electron Microscopy | 3 |
| MSEN 750 | High Efficiency Silicon Solar Cells: Designs and Technologies | 3 |
| MEEN 781 | Materials Selection in Mechanical Design | 3 |
| MEEN 782 | Materials Characterization Techniques | 3 |
| MEEN 792 | Advanced Nanomaterials and Their Mechanical Applications | 3 |
PhD Research Dissertation (36 credit hours)
Students must complete a Dissertation that involves creative, research-oriented work within the field of chemistry, under direct supervision of a full-time faculty advisor from the Chemistry Department, and at least one other full-time faculty who acts as a co-advisor. The outcome of research should demonstrate the synthesis of information into knowledge in a form that may be used by others. The research findings must be documented in a formal dissertation and defended successfully in a viva voce examination.
Dissertation