Programs for the Doctor of Philosophy degree, based on a broad and thorough undergraduate program, emphasize study and original research in one of the following areas: analytical, chemical education, inorganic, organic and physical. Numerous cross–disciplinary research opportunities involving, for example, biochemistry or the cyclotron laboratory, are also available.
In addition to meeting the requirements of the University and of the College of Natural Science, students must meet the requirements specified below.
Admission
Students holding bachelor's degrees, or master's degrees or the equivalent, may be admitted for study at the doctoral level on either a provisional or regular basis. Applicants are expected to have had in their undergraduate programs one year each of general, analytical, organic, and physical chemistry, one year of physics, and one year of calculus or their equivalents. Deficiencies in the undergraduate program must be removed.
Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Chemistry
- Complete a minimum of one year of teaching requirement.
- Complete a minimum of 12 to 18 credits of 800-900 level courses through a minimum of 6 courses. Credits earned in requirements 3. and 4. may not be used to fulfill this requirement.
- Complete the following courses (2 credits):
CEM 890 Chemical Problems and Reports 1 (section 1 Faculty Seminar)
CEM 890 Chemical Problems and Reports 1 (section 2 Second Year Oral)
- Complete 2 credits of seminar course work from one of the following areas: Analytical, Inorganic, Nuclear, Organic, or Physical to demonstrate research preparedness and as a defense of the dissertation. The student's course work must be planned and approved by their academic advisor.
- Satisfactory performance on doctoral comprehensive examinations of the cumulative type is required. Details about these and the qualification examinations may be obtained from the department.
- Complete at least 24 credits and no more than 36 credits of CEM 999 Doctoral Dissertation Research.
- All students must complete Responsible Conduct of Research Training - https://grad.msu.edu/recr.
- Additional details on applicable course work can be found in the CEM graduate handbook at www.chemistry.msu.edu.