Courses:
Students will be required to complete three core courses as well as three electives. In addition to these three credit courses, students must also complete Introduction to Chemical Research, a one credit course. The selection of the electives must be approved by the student’s Research Advisory Committee. If students have previously completed graduate-level courses these may be considered as a substitute for one or more electives at the discretion of the advisory committee. It is possible that a student’s advisory committee may require that a student complete more than three electives – the decision that all course work is completed is made by the advisory committee.
Core courses: Instrumentation
Synthesis & Characterization
Kinetics & Energetics
The core courses will be offered each year and it is anticipated that the Instrumentation course will be offered each Fall and the Synthesis & Characterization and Kinetics & Energetics courses will be offered in the Spring semester. Students must maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 in their course work, in keeping with university-wide requirements.
Students are required to register for a total of 9 credits in the Fall and Spring semesters and 6 credits in Summer C. In addition to the courses identified above, students should initially take CHM 7978 (Advanced Research in Chemistry) and upon admission to candidacy (see below) take CHM 7980 (Dissertation). A minimum of 25 credits are required for CHM 7980.
Research Advisory Committee:
Composition of Committee:
Each student will have a Research Advisory Committee (RAC) which will be comprised of four members, at least three of which are members of the “Graduate Faculty” of the Chemistry Ph.D. program (current list available from Department Chair, or Chair of Graduate Committee). One committee member must be a faculty member from outside the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Ph.D. students should gain admission to a research group and establish a Research Advisory Committee by the end of the second semester. All Research Advisory Committees must be approved by the Chair of the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Chair of the Graduate Committee.
Committee Meetings:
Once the committee is approved, the student will provide a written report each six months and meet with his/her committee once a year. These meetings will provide a forum for the discussion of progress with research as well as all other aspects of the Ph.D. program. The first meeting will take place before the end of the student’s first academic year. This will include a 20 minute seminar describing the thesis research (rationale for selected research area, past work and proposed plans) which will be followed by a question period. Subsequent written reports and meetings will update the committee on progress towards thesis objectives. The committee will monitor the student’s course work and at the appropriate time, approve the completion of all courses. Prior to all committee meetings, the student will prepare and distribute a brief written report for all committee members. All written reports will be deposited in the student’s file in the Chemistry Office. Following all committee meetings, the student’s supervisor will indicate whether progress is satisfactory or unsatisfactory on the Student Milestone Chart and in the grades given in any graduate research or dissertation courses for which the student has registered.
Seminars:
Ph.D. students will present a non-thesis seminar by the end of the second year of their program. Details of the seminar will be established by the faculty in charge of this course (CHM 6935).
Admission to Candidacy:
The Candidacy Exam must be attempted within three months of finishing all course work and successfully completed within five months. The maximum time allowed to successfully complete the Candidacy Exam is two years and one semester, although in exceptional cases, an extension of one or two semesters may be granted by the Graduate Committee. These exams will be specifically designed for each student; details are provided below.
Exam 1
Written exam (4 hours). The student’s advisory committee will select three key publications in the student’s area of research. The committee chair will solicit questions regarding these publications from committee members, assemble the exam, ensure that the committee reviews the exam and solicit appropriate assistance with the evaluation. The committee will decide if the exam is to be open, or closed book format. The student will be given the selected three publications four weeks prior to Exam 1.
Exam 2
Oral exam. No later than two weeks after Exam 1, the student will meet with his/her committee and will field questions related to the subject matter of Exam 1 as well as other questions in the student’s area of research. This is expected to be a thorough examination of the student’s knowledge in the selected area of research.
A copy of the graded Exam 1 and comments reflecting the student’s performance in Exam 2 will be filed in the Department Office. Students will be given a Pass or Fail, or alternatively may be asked to complete writing and/or additional oral assignments in order to achieve a Pass. This decision will be made by the committee. Students will have two opportunities to receive a Pass for the Candidacy Examination. If the student does not receive a Pass after the second opportunity, he/she will be dismissed from the Ph.D. Program. Students will be admitted to candidacy upon successful completion of the Candidacy Exam and must enroll in CHM 7980.
This activity is to be completed within three months of completing the Candidacy Exam. The goal of this exercise is for the student to prepare an original research proposal following the format for the NIH National Research Service Award (specific instructions are available at http://grants.nih.gov/grants/funding/416/phs416.htm#forms) and successfully defend this orally to his/her committee. The topic of this proposal may be related to, but must be distinct from, the student’s area of research. The student will be asked to select a topic from a list of three selected by the advisory committee or may suggest a topic himself/herself. In the case of the latter, the student’s committee must approve the topic. This is designed to test the student’s ability to identify and design a research project which will test problem solving skills, ability to distill relevant literature and design appropriate experiments to address specific research questions. The student will have 4 weeks to complete the written proposal. The oral exam will take place 2-4 days following the submission of the written report.
A copy of the proposal, along with a description of the student’s performance, will be deposited in the student’s file in the Department Office. Students will have two opportunities to receive a Pass for the Research Proposal. If the student does not receive a Pass after the second opportunity, he/she will be dismissed from the Ph.D. Program.
Submission of dissertation:
A dissertation describing the student’s research must be written by the student and be approved by the Research Advisory Committee. Research from the dissertation is anticipated to have resulted in at least one peer-reviewed publication in a journal with an ISI impact factor of >0.5. The dissertation must be successfully defended by the student in an oral exam with the RAC.
Change of research advisor:
If a student wishes to change research advisor, he/she should only proceed with the consultation of either the Department Chair, or the Chair of the Graduate Committee. Students must successfully complete the Candidacy Exam and Research Proposal in the new lab.
Compliance with University requirements:
This document addresses specific requirements of the Ph.D. program in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry. In addition to the specifics of this document, all students must fulfill university requirements as described in the FAU Graduate Catalog.
TA support:
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry guarantees the following duration of Teaching Assistantship support:
Overview of typical path to Ph.D. degree
Year 1 Fall: 2 courses, gain admission to research lab
Spring: 2 courses, start research (develop thesis objectives)
Summer: research, first meeting with advisory committee
Year 2 Fall: 2 courses, seminar, research
Spring: Candidacy Exam, written report submitted to committee, research
Summer: admission to candidacy, Research Proposal, research
Year 3 Fall: research, meeting with advisory committee
Spring: research, written report submitted to committee
Summer: research
Year 4 Fall: research, meeting with advisory committee
Spring: research, written report submitted to committee
Summer: research
Year 5 Fall: research, meeting with advisory committee
Spring: research, written report submitted to committee
Summer: write and defend thesis