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The Chemistry Department offers students the opportunity to study in the traditional areas of chemistry as well as in the growing interdisciplinary areas of materials chemistry, the biological aspects of chemistry, environmental chemistry and chemical physics. Students will work closely with their faculty mentor, but will have wide opportunities to interact with faculty in other disciplines incliding geology, physics, materials/mechanical engineering and biology.

The Department offers the PhD degree in Chemistry, as well as the MA and MS degrees. Students specialize in one area of chemistry, taking their courses, exams and performing their research in that area.

Research Advisor

Each student has a research advisor, who the student chooses depending on their research interests and the faculty member's availability of funding and space. This decision is typically made in the first year, though some students come to the University specifically to work with a given faculty member. This is a mutual decision and the student should have discussions with several faculty before an advisor is proposed. The selection of an advisor is an important decision, since the advisor helps students with course selection and guides them in the development of a viable research program.

Financial support

Most students for the PhD degree receive support from the department or from their research advisor. Normally most first year students, who are taking a full course load, will be funded through a teaching assistantship. These students also receive a full tuition scholarship.

In subsequent years, after the student has joined a research group funding will be provided through a research assistantship. This allows for full time research effort, and the faculty advisor will assign a project and provide for the necessary facilities to perform the project. A full tuition scholarship is also awarded in these cases. In those cases, where the research group does not have funding the student will continue to be supported on a teaching assistant position. Funding is generally available for four years, assuming satisfactory progress toward the degree. A fifth year of funding can be obtained based on availability. The median time to degree of our students is under 4 1/2 years.

Funding is not normally available for students studying toward a Masters degree

Continuing Education

The department offers a number of graduate courses for students who wish to broaden their training into new areas. Several of these are available over the Internet. These can be taken on a non-matriculated basis, so a student can decide later whether to ask for admission to the degree program.


 
© Department of Chemistry, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
updated, March 2009