Chemistry PhD

Major: Chemistry
Degree Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Calendar Type: Quarter
Minimum Required Credits: 90.0 
Co-op Option: None
Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code: 40.0501
Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code: 19-2031

About the Program

The Department of Chemistry offers graduate programs in analytical chemistry, atmospheric chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, materials & polymer chemistry, physical chemistry, chemistry education, and biochemistry. The curriculum is designed to prepare students for the research and practical application of chemistry to challenges facing society. The department also encourages interdisciplinary activities. Many faculty members maintain active collaborations with colleagues in the College of Arts and Science, the School of Education, the College of Engineering, and the College of Medicine.

The chemistry faculty wants graduate students to understand the purpose of and need for fundamental research while working on problems of practical interest and application to the challenges facing society in the modern world. Areas of research include photochemical air pollution, synthesis and characterization of compounds of medicinal and industrial interest, drug discovery, and biologically-relevant macromolecules.

The Department of Chemistry strives to maintain a community of research scholars (faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate and undergraduate students) that is large enough to provide a variety of experiences within chemistry, yet small enough to give each student individual attention. Both full- and part-time study are available.

Additional Information

For more information, contact:

Young-Hoon Ahn, PhD
Graduate Program Committee Chair
215.895.2666
Email: ya426@drexel.edu

Admission Requirements

Requirements for Admission

For admission to graduate study, the department requires a BS in chemistry or the equivalent. This requirement applies to full-time and part-time students working toward either the MS or PhD. Generally, in order to be considered for admission, a successful applicant should have taken two semester courses of organic, analytical and physical chemistry with corresponding laboratory courses. In addition, they should have taken an upper-level inorganic chemistry or biochemistry course. All entering MS and PhD students are required to take a series of two-hour exams in analytical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and biochemistry to help assess their preparation for graduate work in chemistry. The scores obtained on these exams are used as a basis for course selection.

GRE scores are helpful to the Chemistry Department and the Office of Admissions, and are required to be considered for a Dean's Scholarship or a Provost's Fellowship. 

Financial Assistance

Graduate students at Drexel can obtain two main types of financial support: teaching assistantships and research assistantships. Teaching assistantships are available on a competitive basis to incoming students and are normally renewable for several years. 

Forms, details about requirements, and information about application deadlines are all available on the Chemistry page of Drexel's Graduate Admissions website.

Degree Requirements

The PhD degree is awarded in any of six main areas of chemistry: analytical, biological, inorganic, organic, physical, or polymer chemistry. The degree recipient must demonstrate scholastic breadth in chemistry and contribute significantly to scientific advancement in a chosen major area. Requirements of the program include coursework, candidacy examinations, a chemical information retrieval or technical writing course, and successful completion of a publishable PhD thesis. Further details regarding program requirements can be found in the Chemistry Graduate Student Handbook.

Course Requirements

Ninety credits of graduate-level work must be completed for the PhD degree. The Chemistry Department requires 21.0 credits of coursework in chemistry comprised of CHEM 767: Chemical Information Retrieval, three core courses in the student's major area, and three additional graduate lecture courses (core or elective), which cover two different chemistry areas outside the major area. The balance can be made up of advanced special topics courses and research credits.

Candidacy Requirements

To become a candidate for the PhD in chemistry at Drexel, a student must pass a prescribed set of cumulative examinations and complete 45.0 credits of graduate chemistry coursework.

Cumulative Examinations

Written examinations designed to test a student's background in his or her major area are given monthly during the academic year and occasionally during the summer at the discretion of the faculty. Students should begin taking these examinations after having completed three courses in the major area (usually the main sequence courses), though beginning these exams earlier is possible for well-prepared students. Students normally begin taking these examinations in the fall term of their second year.

Thesis Proposal with Seminar

All PhD students are required to write a thesis proposal and give a seminar presentation related to their research. The purpose of the thesis proposal is to help the student become more knowledgeable about their research by (1) promoting a greater fundamental understanding about the student's own specific research project and (ii) providing context and perspective about previous accomplishments in the field by other research groups as well as their own. Following the completion of the cumulative exams, the PhD candidate selects a dissertation advisory committee (DAC). Full-time students are required to submit the thesis proposal to the dissertation advisory committee no later than the end of week 7 in the fall quarter of the 3rd year. There is no official submission deadline for part-time students, but part-time students should submit their proposals to the chairperson of their DAC as early as practical in their course of study. After the thesis proposal is accepted, the proposal seminar has to take place within four weeks. A passing grade on this examination is required for continuation in the PhD program.

Thesis

A PhD thesis, the heart of the PhD degree, must be written accepted by the research supervisor, presented to a PhD Thesis Examining Committee, and defended orally to the satisfaction of the Examining Committee. It is the responsibility of the student, not the research supervisor, to submit an acceptable thesis. It is expected that the students will have at least one peer-reviewed research article accepted for publication by the time of the thesis defense.

*

*Each of these courses can be replaced by CHEM 752 or up to two Physical Chemistry Courses

**

Any one of these courses can be replaced by CHEM 752

***

9 credits are selected from courses in the major sequences outside the student’s core sequence.

†

51 credits are satisfied by any graduate chemistry courses, including CHEM 997 (Research). In some cases, course substitutions may be made with courses from other departments. Elective courses taken outside the department must receive prior departmental approval in order to be counted toward the degree

Sample Plan of Study

*

In the Fall quarter, complete one course in one of the major areas: Analytical, Biological, Inorganic, Organic, Physical, or Polymer Chemistry. In the Winter and Spring quarters, complete two other sequence courses in the major area. 

**

Select non-major area sequence courses or major area electives, including CHEM 997 (Research).CHEM 998 can be up to 9.0 credits.

***

Third to Fifth year: remaining coursework will consist of CHEM 997 Research in each term, and CHEM 865 Seminar once a year. Students should register in CHEM 998 in the term in which they will be defending their dissertation

Facilities

Mass Spectrometry Facility

The department maintains a professionally supervised Mass Spectrometry Facility (located in Stratton 406) available to all members of the Drexel University community. Currently operating instrumentation consists of a Bruker Autoflex III matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (NSF CRIF-MU #0840273), a Bruker Ultraflex III MALDI TOF-TOF MS (NSF MRI #0820996 donated from the U PA Chemistry Department, located in Stratton 142), a Micromass Q-TOF Premier equipped with both electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization (APCI) sources and a 2998 diode array detector (DAD), a Micromass Quattro Micro triple-quadrupole MS instrument equipped with an ESI source and a 2996 DAD, and a Waters ZQ single-quadrupole instrument with both ESI and APCI capability. The three Micromass instruments are each interfaced with a Waters Alliance model 2695 high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) system. The Facility also includes a Waters Xevo G2 Q-TOF equipped with both ESI) and APCI sources and a Waters Aquity UPLC system and a manufacturer refurbished Thermo-Electron, Inc. Q-Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer equipped with both ESI and APCI sources interfaced to a Vanquish Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) system. The laboratory also houses a Sciex PACE MDQ Plus capillary electrophoresis system. Samples for MS analysis may be submitted for analysis or users may be trained in operation of the instruments for use in long-term projects.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility

The professionally staffed Chemistry department NMR facility is equipped with a 400 MHz Varian Mercury Plus and a 500 MHz Unity INOVA. The 400 MHz NMR is actively shielded and equipped with an AutoSwitchable broadband probe (1H/19F/13C/31P,1H/19F/{15N-31P}) and the 500 MHz NMR is equipped with a triple resonance probe (1H/{13C/15N}). Both magnets are connected to a Cryomech helium recovery system.

Analytical Instrumentation Laboratory (AIL)

The professionally supervised Chemistry Department Analytical Instrumentation Laboratory is equipped with the usual array of open-access chemical analysis instrumentation, including: (in Disque 407) a Thermo Scientific Nanodrop One microvolume UV-visible spectrometer, a Shimadzu UV-1900 UV/visible absorption spectrometer, a Shimadzu UV-2600 UV/visible absorption spectrometer equipped with a Quantum Northwest temperature controller, a Shimadzu UV-3600 UV/visible/NIR absorption spectrometer with a 120mm diameter diffuse-reflectance integrating sphere, a Jasco J-1500 circular dichroism spectrometer, a Shimadzu Tracer-100 Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) absorption spectrometer, a Shimadzu AIM-9000 FTIR Microscope system (including beamsplitters for near- mid- and far-IR capability), a Shimadzu RF-6000 fluorescence spectrophotometer, a Shimadzu SALD-7500 nano particle size analyzer, a Shimadzu Prominence-i LC-2030C 3D Plus HPLC (with both UV-visible diode array and refractive index detectors), a Shimadzu Nexera X2 Prominence modular ultraperformance liquid chromatograph (UPLC) equipped with a FRC-10A fraction collector, a SPD-M20A DAD and a Sedex 90 evaporative light scattering detector, a Shimadzu 8050 triple quadrupole LC-MS system including a Prominence binary HPLC pump and a SPD-M20A DAD, a Shimadzu Nexis GC-2030 capillary-column gas chromatograph (GC) equipped w/AOC-20i Plus Auto-injector/AOC-20s Plus Auto-sampler System, a Shimadzu GC-2010+ capillary-column GC Shimadzu GC-MS QP-2020 GC/MS system w/AOC-6000 Autosampler, and a Shimadzu AA7000 flame atomic absorption spectrometer equipped with a GFA-7000A graphite-furnace accessory and a ASC-7000 auto-sampler capable of either macro or micro-sampling (between 5-90 uL of sample required).

Organic Instrumentation Laboratory

The Department Organic Instrumentation Laboratory (located in the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building 502) is equipped with two PE Clarus 500 capillary-column GCs (one with dual flame ionization detectors, FIDs), the other with one FID and a thermal conductivity detector (TCD), two PE Spectrum 2 FTIRs, each equipped with a diamond ATR, a PE model 343 polarimeter, a CEM model X microwave synthesis system, an Anasazi, Inc. EFT-90 90MHz NMR with both C-13 and H-1 capability, and an Advion Expression Compact Mass Spectrometer (CMS) with ESI and APCI capability.

Vibrational Spectroscopy Laboratory

The Department Vibrational Spectroscopy Laboratory (located in Disque 112) is equipped with a PE Spectrum One FTIR (also equipped with a universal diamond ATR and transmission sampling accessories), a Horiba LB500 Dynamic Light Scattering Spectrometer with Peltier Temperature Controller, and a Renishaw Invia Raman Microscope system (equipped with three laser wavelengths: 514.5nm, 632.8nm and 785nm).

Analytical/Inorganic Teaching Laboratory

The Analytical/Inorganic Teaching Laboratory (located in Disque 409) is equipped with a Perkin-Elmer (PE) Spectrum One FTIR (equipped with a universal diamond ATR and transmission sampling accessories), a PE LS55B Luminescence spectrometer, a PE Lambda-2 UV/visible spectrometer, a BAS Epsilon Eclipse system with a RDE-2 rotating disk electrode head, a UCT Inc., Positive Pressure Manifold (for performing solid phase extraction), and a Biotage Turbo-Vac LV Concentration workstation.

Microscopy Laboratory

The department Microscopy Laboratory (located in Stratton 416) is equipped with a Leica DM IRBE Inverted Fluorescence Microscope, a Zeiss EpiFluorescence III RS Microscope, and a Bruker (formerly Veeco Metrology, Inc.), Multimode NanoScope IIId SPM System which performs all major SPM imaging techniques including contact and non-contact atomic force, lateral force, TappingMode (air), magnetic force and electric force microscopy. Additional instrumentation located there include a PE Lambda-950 UV/visible/NIR spectrometer equipped with a Labsphere, Inc., 60mm diameter diffuse-reflectance integrating sphere, A Camag Reprostart 3 Gel Imaging System, a Thermo Scientific (formerly Nicolet) 6700 FT-IR/Raman spectrometer, an ISS Chronos DFD fluorescence lifetime spectrometer with three laser sources and an ISS T-format steady-state fluorescence polarization spectrometer.

Polymer Analysis Laboratory

The Department Polymer Analysis Laboratory (located in Disque 210) is equipped with a Brookfield DV-II+ Pro Viscometer with cone/plate capabilities, a Brookfield CAP 2000+ viscometer, a Mettler-Toledo Thermal Gravimetric Analyzer/Differential Scanning Calorimeter (TGA/DSC) Star system, a Mettler-Toledo Polymer DSC system, and a modular Gel Permeation Chromatography system composed of a Waters 515 HPLC pump, 2414 refractive index detector and 2487 dual wavelength absorbance detector.

Program Level Outcomes

Chemistry Faculty

Emeritus Faculty