Doctoral program

The awarding of the Ph.D. degree is not based solely upon the completion of a definite number of credit hours, but rather upon the accomplishments of the student in research, in course work, in individual examinations, and on the dissertation. Requirements in detail are indicated below. Students seeking an exception to the graduate requirements must present their case to the members of the Graduate Evaluation and Advising Committee. If a majority of the committee agrees to support the appeal, they will present it to the faculty for departmental consideration.

Course requirements

The student seeking the Ph.D. degree in chemistry must have a minimum of 18 credit hours in eight graduate courses not including credit for seminar and research. Six of these graduate classes must be courses offered by the Department of Chemistry. The Graduate Recruitment and Admissions Committee will review the transcript of all transfer students. (See the Graduate and Professional Programs Bulletins for the university rules for transfer credit.) The credit hours must include three of the following core courses (9 credits) selected from the following four areas:

Students in the chemical physics program are required to complete CHEM 510 or PHYS 580 plus CHEM 511, CHEM 612, PHYS 576, and PHYS 641 plus three courses from the following list: CHEM 512, 550, 591, 610, 611, 615, 616, 620, 634, 635, 691; PHYS 550, 571, 573, 591, 661, 691; MATH 517, 518; NANO 650, 651. A minimum of four graduate courses must be in chemistry.

All graduate students seeking the Ph.D. degree must complete 30 hours of CHEM 697, directed research, as a part of fulfilling the requirements for the degree. Students electing the chemical physics option may substitute 15 credits of PHYS 697 for 15 credits of CHEM 697. All course work for the student will be determined in consultation with the research advisor and with the approval of the Graduate Evaluation and Advising Committee.

All full and part-time graduate students will enroll each semester in CHEM 690, Research Seminar in chemistry, except during the semester that the student is presenting their literature seminar or thesis/dissertation seminar, when they should register for CHEM 692, Chemistry Seminar Presentation.

An important aspect of graduate training is developing the ability to review critically the relevant literature. CHEM 698, Investigations in Current Chemistry Literature (0.5 credit) is designed for this purpose. Students are expected to register for at least two semesters of CHEM 698 during the course of their graduate studies. All full-time graduate students will be required to register for CHEM 698 in the semester preceding their literature seminar presentation. Up to two credits may be presented toward graduation requirements, with 1-2 credits considered one course.

Cumulative examinations

The student seeking the Ph.D. degree must satisfactorily complete the written cumulative examinations in eight consecutive attempts. The examinations will be offered in analytical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry and in chemical physics. The examinations will be offered five times during the academic year in the months of October, November, February, March, and April, and will be graded on a scale of 2, 1 or 0 points. Students must achieve a total of six points to complete this requirement, of which four points must be obtained on examinations in the student's major area of interest. Students must also pass a minimum of two examinations with scores of two points each. The examinations will be no more than three hours in length and major topics for each division's examination may be announced no later than one week prior to the date of the examination at the discretion of the division. There may be examinations where the division chooses not to announce the topic. The topics may include material from the current literature, recent seminars in the area, course related topics, and topics which are not covered in a specific course within the department.

The examinations may be taken only after successful completion of the proficiency requirements. Thus, most students begin the cumulative examinations in their second semester of residency and, in any case, no later than their third semester of residency. An entering student who completes the proficiency requirements with no deficiencies may elect to begin the cumulative examinations immediately, but should consult the Graduate Director prior to beginning the examinations. Any student who wishes to delay beginning the cumulative exams past the third semester of residency must request permission from the Graduate Director. Any unexcused absence from taking a cumulative exam will count as zero points.

Part-time students shall also be required to follow this schedule.

Oral Candidacy examination

Within three months after successful completion of the cumulative examinations, the student will submit one copy of an original Dissertation Research Proposal based upon their proposed research project, to each member of their dissertation committee. The dissertation committee may decide to return the proposal to the student if deficiencies exist prior to the examination. The Oral Candidacy Examination should be completed within six months after notification of completion of the cumulative examinations, and no later than six months prior to defense of the dissertation.

The proposal consists of the problem and its proposed solution which has been developed by the student according to the following rules:

1. The literature must be searched thoroughly to assure that the proposal is original and has not been reported previously.
2. Pertinent examples in the literature bearing on the feasibility of the proposed solution should be cited.
3. The report shall include:
   1. An introduction (giving the background and known facts on which the problem is based).
   2. A statement of the problem (giving a description of the problem, its significance and the proposed experimental approach).
   3. A work completed section (describing research completed to date).
   4. A methods section (describing the steps to be carried out, discussion of feasibility, and possible outcome).
   5. A conclusion section (describing the interpretation of possible experimental results and their bearing on the original hypothesis).
   6. A section of bibliographic references (in a style acceptable for a dissertation).

It is also suggested for the student to review the guidelines for preparation of NSF and NIH proposals for guidance. At the time of the oral examination, the student will be asked to explain the problem and to defend the proposed solution. It is presumed that a major portion of the questions in the examination will concern some facet of the proposal; however, questions may not be restricted to such areas.

A favorable decision of the Dissertation Committee with no more than one negative vote (all members being required to vote) shall be required to pass the oral portion of the candidacy examination. If a student fails the oral candidacy examination, a reexamination may be given.

The oral candidacy examination is open to all members of the graduate faculty. Faculty members in attendance may ask questions of the candidate, but their questions shall not be presented until after the dissertation committee has completed its questions. Faculty members other than those on the committee shall neither vote nor indicate on the success or failure of the candidate. The time and place of the examination shall be posted at least seven days in advance. It is the responsibility of the graduate student to inform the Graduate Director of the time, date and title of the proposal defense. As stated previously, this examination must be successfully completed at least six months before submission of the dissertation. Upon successful completion of the oral candidacy examination, the student becomes a candidate for the Ph.D. degree.

Once the oral candidacy examination has been passed, and the student has completed all required course work (with a 3.0 GPA) and the literature seminar, the student must fill out and submit to the Graduate Director the Application to Candidacy Form [Word document].

Dissertation

The candidate must conduct a substantial original investigation under the supervision of the research advisor and prepare a dissertation reporting the results of the research and analyzing its significance in relation to existing scientific knowledge. The dissertation should be prepared according to standards set down by the School of Graduate Studies in the University Graduate Council Thesis and Dissertation Manual [PDF].

When the adviser and the candidate determine that sufficient research has been completed to prepare a dissertation, a meeting of the candidate's committee will be scheduled to review the completed work. The committee will then recommend that the candidate begin preparation of the dissertation or complete additional research. Since the Ph.D. is awarded for completion of an original research problem, evidence (at minimum, a draft manuscript) of publication of the results of this work should be presented to the committee at this meeting. This meeting will occur at least six months prior to the anticipated defense date, and the result will be reported to the Graduate Director.

The examiners for the dissertation are the student's dissertation committee members. These examiners decide upon the acceptability of the candidate's dissertation for defense. An external examiner may be invited to participate in the dissertation thesis examination by reason of specific expertise in the candidate's field. Upon tentative acceptance of the dissertation by the examiners, the candidate appears before them for a final oral examination. This examination is open to all members of the graduate faculty. The final examination will be limited to the subject of the candidate's dissertation and related matters. A favorable vote of the candidate's examiners, with no more than one negative vote shall be required for passing the final oral examination. There shall be prior public announcement of the candidate's name and department and title of dissertation at least seven days in advance. It is the responsibility of the graduate student to inform the Graduate Director of the time, date and title of the dissertation defense. Upon successful defense of the dissertation, the student provides the dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences with at least five copies of the approved dissertation; four for binding and one for microfilming. Of these four bound copies, two are for the library, one goes to the chair of the Chemistry Department, and one to the major professor. The candidate will assume the cost of binding the above and any additional copies. Even if the candidate elects to use the electronic dissertation option, bound copies are still required for the Department of Chemistry and the major professor.

The doctoral dissertation must be sent to Xerox University Microfilm for microfilming and publication of the abstract of the dissertation in Dissertation Abstracts International. Information pertinent to the preparation of the dissertation and the procedures for publication of the abstract and binding can be found at www.library.vcu.edu/preservation/theses.html.

The candidate, having fulfilled all the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, is recommended to the graduate faculty, general faculty, and the president of the university for the degree to be awarded.

General Progress in Study and Research

It is deemed feasible for a well-prepared, full-time student commencing graduate studies with a bachelor's degree in chemistry to complete the Ph.D. requirements in four and one-half to five years. It is expected that the first academic year will be devoted primarily to course work; the effort of subsequent years should be divided between research, the completion of course work and required examinations, and preparation of the dissertation. VCU requires that all graduate degree requirements be completed within eight years from the date of admission to graduate study. This time limitation applies to both full and part-time students.

It is highly desirable that a good start is made on the research project during the summer after the first year, and that research be continued even while courses are in progress during the second year.

It is considered desirable that the student be present as much as possible at the university. Students should conduct research whenever course work and teaching duties allow.

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