General Graduate Program Requirements

Graduate School policies and standards can be found on the Graduate School Policies page. 

The minimum GPA for any graduate program is 3.0. Individual programs may require more than a 3.0 to remain in good standing. 

The minimum grade for a course to be accepted toward any master’s or doctoral requirement is C. The minimum grade for a course to be accepted toward a certificate program is B-. Individual programs may require higher grades for specific courses.

Doctor of Philosophy - Chemistry 

• The coursework that a graduate student takes is dependent upon their research area, the degree they are pursuing, and the need to cover deficiencies as determined from the proficiency exams.
• The student must take 15 credits in lecture-based courses, which is five courses worth 3 credits each at the 500 level. Some graduate-credit approved 400-level courses can be used upon recommendation of the advisory committee. The 15 credits in letter-graded courses are selected in consultation with the thesis advisor and advisory committee.
  • 9 of the 15 credits must be in 500-level letter-graded Chemistry (CHMY) courses
  • 6 of these 9 Chemistry credits must be in 500-level letter-graded Chemistry courses outside the student's research specialty area as determined by the advisory committee.
  • The remaining 6 of the 15 credits may be in letter-graded courses within or outside the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry when approved by the student's committee.
• Students should plan a course of study that will allow them to complete coursework in their first four semesters of residence. Students will typically complete two graduate courses in each of their first two semesters in residence and at least one graduate course in each of the following two semesters.
• All graduate students will register for CHMY 630 (Departmental Seminar) every semester. Attending departmental research seminars is integral to a student’s education and allows the student a chance to learn about areas of science outside of their research area. Attendance of these seminars is mandatory unless excused by the faculty member responsible for organizing the seminar. The method of grading this class is the choice of the faculty member organizing the seminar. CHMY 630 is graded on a credit/no-credit basis.

Course Requirements

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Core Requirements
Complete all of the following courses:
CHMY 501	Teaching University Chemistry (completed the first fall semester)	1
CHMY 630	Seminar	10
CHMY 640	Introductory Graduate Seminar (completed the first fall semester)	1
CHMY 650	Graduate Chemistry Seminar (completed in the first two spring semesters, 1 each semester)	2
CHMY 652	Original Research Proposal 1	1
Elective Courses
Complete 15 credits of graduate-level courses chosen in consultation with your advisor and committee. These courses will be graduate-level Chemistry (CHMY) or Biochemistry (BCH) courses, but other graduate-level courses may be applied when approved by the student’s committee.		15
Research and Dissertation
Complete 30 credits of the following courses:		30
CHMY 690	Research
CHMY 699	Dissertation
Total Hours		60

¹

Completed fall semester following completion of 2 credits in CHMY 650