Milestones towards PhD

1. Completing coursework – The student’s course of study must be approved by the student’s advisory 委员会 and must fulfill the general degree requirements for their respective advanced degree. A minimum of 52 credit* hours is required. These hours are distributed as follows:

500-level chemistry courses           21 cr hrs with a letter grade*

CHEM 529, 530 (Seminar)                2 cr hrs

COMM 575 (Proposal Writing I)     3  cr hrs

CHEM  555 (Proposal Writing II)    2 cr hrs

CHEM 595 (Dissertation)                 24 cr hrs

学生 may substitute upto 6 credit hours of courses at the 300-level and above from other departments. Additional 500-level courses from other departments may be used in place of 500-level chemistry courses, upon approval of student’s advisory 委员会.

* - students with prior MS are required to complete all the above requirements, except those students only require 9 cr hrs of 500-level with a letter. 3 of these 9 cr hrs could be replaced by 300-level or above from other departments. 

2. Entrance examinations – All incoming students must take entrance examinations before the beginning of the 学期. Entrance examinations will be based on American Chemical Society’s standard 测试. All students must take 5 测试 in following subject areas; Analytical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry. 如果缺陷 are determined, appropriate remedial undergraduate coursework will be required. 补救 coursework does not count toward degree requirements.

3. 研究生 委员会 – A graduate 委员会 must be established before the end of the 2nd 学期 of the 程序. In addition to student’s thesis advisor, 委员会 must consist minimum of 3 faculty from the chemistry department and 1 non-chemistry faculty.

4. Candidacy oral exam (Dissertation proposal) - The purpose of the candidacy examination is to show that preliminary work underway on a dissertation subject and to evaluate the student’s ability to complete dissertation 研究. The exam is taken before the end of fifth 学期 (excluding summer 学期s). Passing the candidacy exam is one of several steps that must be completed prior to Admission to Candidacy.  研究生 委员会s will require additional coursework and/or other remediation for deficiencies discovered during the candidacy exam. 任何这样的 remediation will be added to the student’s graduate file in the graduate office.

5. Admission to candidacy - A doctoral student may apply for candidacy upon completion of a minimum of one year of graduate study at NMT. A student qualifies for admission to candidacy by:

a) Averaging B or better in coursework taken;

b) Passing the candidacy examination

6. PhD dissertation defense - The doctoral dissertation demonstrates the candidate’s capacity for independent 研究. The student may register for dissertation hours only after successfully advancing to candidacy. A minimum of 24 credit hours distributed over one or more years must be devoted to the dissertation after candidacy has been achieved. The dissertation must be defended before the NMT faculty under the supervision of the student’s advisory 委员会. Before the degree is approved and granted, at least one paper on the subject matter of the dissertation must be submitted to a recognized journal acceptable to the doctoral 委员会 of the student. Generally, significantly more 研究 publication 预计.