New Jersey Institute of TechnologyDEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE |
Students entering with bachelor's degrees are required to complete a minimum of 78 credits. This includes 42 credits of course work. The required core courses for the M.S. in Chemistry are mandatory; and no less than 24 credits in chemistry or related courses must be taken. At least 12 credits must be in courses at the 700 level (of which at least 6 should be in chemistry), and none may be at the 500 level. The qualifying examinations must be passed (see below). A minimum of 36 credits of research must be completed, and a dissertation must be submitted and defended.
The required core courses are: Advanced Physical Chemistry, Advanced Organic Chemistry (either Structure or Reactions), Advanced Analytical Chemistry or Instrumental Analysis, and Advanced Inorganic Chemistry or Biochemistry.
For students who have completed a masters degree, the program requires a minimum of 24 credits of course work, at least 12 of which are at the 700 level. Of the 700 level courses, 6 credits must be in chemistry. Students must also take 36 credits of research work, followed by the submission and defense of a dissertation. While it is not required that the the core courses be taken, students will have to pass qualifying examinations in these areas (see below). Therefore, it is recommended that they take these courses, unless they already have a strong background in these areas.
Each semester, Ph.D. students must register for and attend departmental seminars. The credits awarded for this seminar are not applied to fulfillment of degree requirements.
All students must maintain a grade point average of at least 3.0 in their studies. Students entering without the MS degree must also attain a GPA of 3.0 in the core courses.
Within the first year after admission to the program students must take a qualifying examination which will include questions on the required core courses as well as recently offered elective courses. Students have two chances to pass all of the sections. If any section is failed or is not taken on the first trial, one more attempt is allowed. The examinations are given in January and June, and students should notify the graduate advisor for Chemistry of their intent to take the examinations at least a month before they are scheduled.
After passing the qualifying examinations, students should select a research advisor and a doctoral research committee. The committee must meet the approval of the Departmental Graduate Advisor for Chemistry. It should consist of, at a minimum, the research advisor, three departmental faculty members and one person from outside the department. The graduate advisor should be notified of these selections. Forms are available from the departmental office to report the selections.
Within six months of passing the qualifiers, the student must give an oral presentation to the doctoral research committee, surveying the background of the selected research project, any preliminary results which have already been obtained, and the student's plans for completing the research. The student should give to the committee a short written document detailing the material to be covered in the proposal, allowing sufficient time for them to examine it before the presentation. After the presentation, the committee must formally approve the proposal. An approval form should be obtained from the departmental office and should be returned to the graduate advisor. The committee may meet at other times to follow the student's progress, at the request of the student and the research advisor.
After the dissertation is completed, the student will present the research to the committee and the public, and defend it. It is expected that the committee will have been given copies of the document several weeks before the defense meeting, to ensure that they have adequate time to review it.
Obtaining a Ph.D. is expected to entail more than just fulfilling formal requirements. There are skills which students will develop while completing the formal program. We call these skills "The Informal Requirements".