CHEM-PHD - Chemistry (PhD)
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Program Overview
Chemistry is about the nature of matter, how to make it, measure it, and model it. In that sense, chemistry really matters; it is essential to explaining the real world. It holds the key to making new drugs, creating new materials, and understanding and controlling material properties. It is no wonder that chemistry is called the “Central Science.” Traditionally, it is divided into subdisciplines, such as organic, inorganic, physical, biological, theoretical, and analytical. Still, these distinctions blur as it is increasingly appreciated how all science, let alone chemistry, is interconnected.
A deeper understanding of chemistry enables students to participate in research and studies involving biotechnology, nanotechnology, catalysis, human health, materials, earth and environmental sciences, and more. Together, faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate and undergraduate students actively work side by side to develop new probes of biological molecules, model protein folding and reactivity, manipulate carbon nanotubes, develop new oxidation and polymerization catalysts, and synthesize organic molecules to probe ion channels. The overarching theme of these pursuits is a focus at the atomic and molecular levels, whether this concerns probing the electronic structure and reactivity of molecules as small as dihydrogen or synthesizing large polymer assemblies. The ability to synthesize new molecules and materials and to modify existing biological structures allows the properties of complex systems to be analyzed and harnessed with massive benefit to both the scientific community and society at large.
Admissions Information
Information on how to apply for graduate study at Stanford is available on the university’s Graduate Admissions website. Application information specific to Chemistry can be found on https://chemistry.stanford.edu/academics/phd-program/admissions.
Minimum Units in the Program
Minimum University Units
Each new graduate student must take placement examinations upon entrance. These consist of three written examinations of two hours each in the fields of inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry and cover such material as ordinarily is given in a rigorous one-year undergraduate course in each of these subjects. Students concentrating in biophysical chemistry or chemical physics must take examinations in biophysical or chemical physics, physical chemistry, and organic or inorganic chemistry. Students concentrating in chemical biology must take biophysical, organic, and physical or inorganic chemistry examinations. All placement examinations are given the week before instruction begins in autumn quarter and must be taken at that time. Each new graduate student meets with a graduate study committee member to define a course program based on the results of the placement examinations.
After taking the departmental placement examinations, students select a research advisor by conducting informational interviews with six members of the Chemistry faculty. An Application to Start Research form is submitted to the Department as research begins under the advisor’s supervision. All students must join a lab by the end of February, during winter quarter of the first year of graduate registration.
Candidates for advanced degrees must have a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 for all Chemistry lecture courses and all courses taken during graduate study. Required courses must be taken for a letter grade. Most coursework ends in the second year of studies, and students will then focus on full-time dissertation research.
Students may concentrate in organic, chemical biology, physical, biophysical, chemical physics, or inorganic chemistry. All graduate students are required to take six graduate-level lecture courses (course numbers greater than 200) of at least three units each in chemistry or related disciplines (e.g., biochemistry, electrical engineering, mathematics, chemical engineering, chemical and systems biology, physics, materials science), to be selected in consultation with their research advisor and the Graduate Study Committee. All six courses must be taken for a letter grade. At least three of the six courses must be taken within the Chemistry Department. A minimum of four courses should be completed by the end of the first year.
Admission to candidacy is a judgement by the faculty of a student’s potential to successfully complete the requirements of the degree program. Students are expected to complete qualifying procedures and apply for candidacy by the end of July of their second year in the program. Qualifying procedures in the Department of Chemistry include completion of most of the formal lecture course requirements, identification of an advisor by the end of February of the first year of the program, and satisfactory progress on a dissertation research project determined by passing a progress report with one's thesis committee. Additional details on qualifying procedures can be found on our website: https://chemistry.stanford.edu/academics/phd-program.
In the Department of Chemistry, the oral exam is a defense of the dissertation presented upon the completion of a substantial portion of the dissertation or upon completion of a pre-final draft. Students consult with their dissertation advisor and reading committee members on the timing of the defense. Students are expected to complete this milestone by the end of the sixth year in the program.
Before candidates may request the scheduling of the University Oral Examination, clearance must be obtained from the dissertation advisor, and an academic review meeting must be scheduled with the Student Services Manager for the Department of Chemistry.
During the period in which faculty members are reading a dissertation, candidates must be available for personal consultation until the dissertation has received final department approval.