A&S—Chemistry
The Department of Chemistry provides programs of graduate study leading to the MS and the PhD in chemistry in the fields of analytical, biological, inorganic, organic, physical chemistry, and chemical physics. Interdisciplinary research is also currently conducted in the areas of surface science, combinatorial chemistry, natural products synthesis, nanotechnology, biosensors, laser spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, and theoretical chemistry.
Research
- Analytical Chemistry
- Biological Chemistry
- Inorganic Chemistry
- Organic Chemistry
- Physical Chemistry
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Contact Information
- Department Chair: David H. Waldeck
- Main Office: 234 Chevron Science Center
- 412-624-8430
- Fax: 412-624-8611
- E-mail: fnagy@pitt.edu
- www.chem.pitt.edu
The Department of Chemistry is housed in a modern chemistry complex. The main 15-story laboratory tower contains separate NMR, mass spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography facilities; in-house machine, electronics, and glassblowing shops; and a vast array of modern research instruments. In addition to instrumentation within individual research groups, the department supports shared instrumentation, including three 300 MHz NMRs, one 500 MHz NMR, one 600 MHz NMR, two high-resolution and two low-resolution mass spectrometers, a light-scattering instrument, a circular dichroism spectrophotometer, a spectropolarimeter, X-ray systems—single crystal, powder, and fluorescence, a scanning electron microscope, an atomic force microscope, a vibrating sample magnetometer, several FT-IR and UV-VIS spectrophotometers, and workstation computer clusters. The Chemistry Library is a 6,000-square-foot facility that contains more than 30,000 monographs and 15,000 bound periodicals and more than 250 maintained journal subscriptions. Three other chemistry libraries are nearby.
A background of a bachelor's degree in chemistry, including courses
in mathematics through integral calculus, is preferred. In addition,
the student must meet the general Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences requirements
for admission
to graduate study.
After taking an appraisal exam in each of the four areas of chemistry, each new student meets with the department's Graduate Student Advisement Committee for registration counseling. This meeting is to help with the student's orientation and to plan a first-year program. Similar meetings are held before each registration until the student passes the preliminary examination. At that time the staff member who supervises the student’s research becomes the student’s major advisor, and the remainder of the student’s program is developed in consultation with the advisor. All of the advanced degree programs involve original research and course work. Other requirements include a comprehensive examination, a thesis, a seminar, and for the PhD candidate, a proposal. For the typical PhD candidate, this process takes four to five years.
Domestic and foreign applicants must submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores and Advanced Chemistry Test scores. International applicants must also submit TOEFL scores.
All full-time doctoral students in good academic standing receive complete financial support in the form of fellowships, teaching assistantships, or research assistantships. This support is available throughout a student’s graduate career, including the summer sessions. Research and teaching assistantships come with full tuition support and a
generous health insurance package.
Ordinarily the MS program includes a total of four to six terms of full-time graduate work (A minimum of 24 credits). Special arrangements are available for individuals who are interested in a part-time master’s program. Each MS student must take a minimum of 12 credits of 2000- or 3000-level chemistry courses for credit. Six of these credits must be core courses (CHEM 2110, 2120, 2210, 2220, 2230, 2310, 2320, 2430, 2440, 2810, 2820); the remaining courses can either be in the student’s major area or in other fields. Students electing to present a non-research thesis must take one laboratory course (CHEM 1250, 1380, 1440, 2610, or 3210) for credit in addition to the preceding requirements. In addition, each student who does not elect a core course in physical chemistry must demonstrate a satisfactory level of accomplishment in the appraisal examination in physical chemistry or must remove a deficiency in this area by completing CHEM 1410 and 1420 with at least a B average.
Comprehensive Examination: The comprehensive examination consists of an examination of the student’s record in the six required core course credits and three additional 2000- or 3000-level credits.
Thesis: The thesis for the MS must represent an original research project or a comprehensive and detailed survey of some topic of current interest in chemistry. It must be defended in an oral examination.
PhD candidates are required to take 72 graduate credits including 12 credits of core courses
(CHEM 2110, 2120, 2210, 2220, 2230, 2310, 2320, 2430, 2440, 2810,
2820). Additional courses in accordance with the need of the individual
student will usually be prescribed. If a student wishes to pursue
an area of concentration in chemical physics, the following courses
are required: CHEM 2440, 2430, PHYS 2555, 2558. Candidates are required
to participate in some teaching activities, for at least two terms,
during their doctoral program.
PhD Preliminary Evaluation: The preliminary evaluation consists of an examination of the student’s core course record. The student must achieve a grade point average of at least 3.00 in 12 credits of core courses selected from at least three of five branches of chemistry.
Comprehensive Examination: The oral comprehensive examination is devoted to a discussion of the candidate’s research field. The student is asked to report on the student’s own work to date and on a future research plan; but beyond that, the student must be prepared to answer questions touching on the theoretical and practical aspects of the general field in which the research problem lies. The student is also expected to show a command of graduate course work related to the field of the student’s research. The department’s comprehensive examination satisfies the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences requirements for an overview examination. With approval by the department chair and the assistant dean of graduate studies, the student is formally admitted to candidacy for the PhD program.
Seminar: Each student in the doctoral program is required to present at least one seminar, which is open to the department. The seminar may be given at any time during the student’s career and on any topic approved by the student’s major advisor, including the results of doctoral research.
Proposal: After passage of the comprehensive examination, the student is expected to pursue the thesis problem. When substantial progress on this problem has been made, the student must present an original research proposal before a faculty committee. This proposal must not be closely related to the student's dissertation problem.
Dissertation and Final Examination: The PhD dissertation is a report on an investigation under the supervision of a member of the faculty. It must represent an original contribution to knowledge and must relate what is found to what was known before. The candidate must defend his/her dissertation in an oral examination before a doctoral committee consisting of the major advisor, at least two additional departmental graduate faculty members, and one graduate faculty member from another department within the University. With prior approval, a qualified faculty member from another institution may also be appointed. The final examination is open to all members of the University community.
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