Doctoral Program

Students are required to complete a total of at least 18 lecture course hours.  Most courses will be in the chosen division but two courses outside the division are required and one of the latter could involve the preparation of an original research proposal.  A total of 8 seminar hours are required including four enrollments in formal seminar and four enrollments in either Problem Solving in... or Recent Developments in... depending on the division.  These courses are designed to enhance research skills/practice and/or to keep up-to-date in important research areas.  Also, a single credit hour of College Teaching of Chemistry is to be taken in the first semester.  In addition to these 27 hours of classroom course work, sufficient Research and Dissertation hours are required to bring the total to 90 hours beyond the Bachelor's degree or 60 hours beyond the Master's degree.

To be admitted to candidacy for the doctoral degree, students must pass a comprehensive written examination in the chosen sub-discipline by the end of the second year.  Within six months after passing the written examination, the student will be subjected to an oral candidacy examination.  This will be based on a detailed, written research proposal for his/her planned dissertation research which will be submitted to the student's Research Advisor and Dissertation Committee who will then administer and evaluate the oral examination.  Successful passage of this examination admits the student to candidacy.

The Dissertation describes the student's original research.  This document is reviewed by the student's Research Advisor and Dissertation Committee before it's final defense.  Detailed rules for the graduate program are contained in the current Regulations for the Graduate Degree in Chemistry.  Click here to download a PDF (~50k) of this document.

Kent State University | Department of Chemistry | Kent, OH 44242-0001
PH: 330.672.2032 | FX: 330.672.3816