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The Department of Chemistry offers individualized programs leading to the Ph.D. degree. Areas of specialization include the traditional areas of chemistry -- analytical, biological, inorganic, organic, and physical, as well as polymer chemistry, materials, and thrust areas in nanomaterials, chemical energy, and the chemical basis of disease. Chemistry faculty participate in several interdisciplinary programs.

The department does not have a master’s program per se. However, a master’s degree may be possible in the following circumstances: 1) A doctoral student needs a master’s degree en route to the Ph.D., 2) A student is unable to complete the Ph.D. program and petitions for a terminal master’s degree.

There are few formal requirements for the Ph.D. degree in order to allow each student’s program to be tailored to individual needs. In the first year students take a two-semester core course as well as more specialized courses in their areas of interest. There is no foreign language requirement. (Students accepted into the graduate program are expected to have undergraduate preparation as recommended by the American Chemical Society.)

The Prospectus (dissertation proposal) and the Original Research Proposal (unrelated to the dissertation) are key milestones for achieving candidacy and progressing on toward the data defense, and ultimately, the final defense. The Ph.D. degree is awarded for the production and successful defense of a dissertation describing original, publishable research work. 

New graduate students participate in the department's week-long orientation before the fall semester begins. In addition to the usual advising, students receive intensive and thorough preparation for being chemistry Teaching Assistants. The department's annual Research Fest occurs during orientation week and provides an excellent picture of the research being done by faculty and graduate students. Faculty Research Seminars, another component of orientation, further inform students of the department's current research and help students decide which research groups to request for lab rotations.  Students spend a month in three different faculty-research labs during the first semester, at the end of which they can make informed decisions in requesting a research-adviser. Typically students have a research-adviser assigned by the end of the first semester.