Graduate Study

Career Opportunities

Graduate education and research go hand in hand. A major goal of our program is to train research scientists to create new knowledge in their careers as leaders in academe, industry or government. The Ph.D. program encourages independent research at the end of the first year of study, following lab rotations in which students are introduced to the research of several professors and their groups. Attendance at seminars is encouraged, and special topics courses are offered regularly to complement traditional course offerings and provide formal exposure to the latest developments in selected areas. Master's programs can be completed as a full or part-time student, with or without a research thesis. Most graduate courses are offered in the evening to facilitate enrollment of part-time students. The student body for the 2007-08 Academic Year is greater than 100 full-time and 40 part-time students.

Degrees Offered

• Biological Chemistry: M.S., Ph.D.
• Inorganic Chemistry: M.S., Ph.D.
• Organic Chemistry: M.S., Ph.D.
• Physical Chemistry: M.S., Ph.D.

Requirements

• Ph.D.
  • The principal requirement is completion and successful oral defense of a thesis based on original research.
  • Research specializations include: biophysical chemistry and structural biology; materials chemistry; mechanistic research: physical, organic, and inorganic chemistry; molecular design and synthesis; spectroscopy; structure determination; and theory.
• M.S.
  • May be obtained with or without a research thesis.
  • Principal requirements are completion of 30 credits of graduate courses, passing grade on a master's examination, and a master's essay or thesis.
  • When the thesis option is chosen, 6 of the 30 credits may be in research (see above).

Research Facilities

• Various NMR spectrometers (800–, 600–, two 500–, 400–, 300–, and 200–MHz)
• ESR spectrometers; single–crystal CCD and powder X–ray diffractometers; multiwire area detectors for macromolecular structure determination; Single Molecule Spectrometer
• Laser flash-photolysis systems; temperature-programmable ORD-CD spectropolarimeter; automated peptide and DNA synthesizers; a SQUID magnetometer
• Ultrahigh-vacuum surface analysis systems; scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopes; a helium-atom scattering apparatus; molecular beam and supersonic jet apparatuses
• GC/quadrupole and ICP mass spectrometers; extensive laser instrumentation, crystal-growing facilities; calorimetric equipment
• Computing facilities include four multiprocessor servers, more than fifty graphics workstations, a forty-eight-processor cluster of PC-based workstations, video animation equipment, and an assortment of approximately 1000 personal computers, and laser and color printers.

Entrance Requirements and Application Deadlines for MS and PhD Programs

• GRE General Test, GRE Subject Test, TOEFL
• Fall Admission - 4/14 (priority date)
• Spring Admission - 12/1 (priority date)
• Applications processed on a rolling basis

Financial Aid

Full-time Ph.D. students receive fellowships, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, or a combination thereof. Stipends for entering students range from approximately $25,000 to $30,000 (Presidential Fellowship), plus complete tuition remission, for a calendar-year appointment. Senior graduate students excelling in research are rewarded with additional funds (up to $4,000 per year) from Merck, Damle, and Reid departmental endowments.

Additional Information

For more information, contact:
Vice Chair, Graduate Program in Chemistry & Chemical Biology
Wright-Rieman Laboratories
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
610 Taylor Road
Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8087
Telephone: 732-445-3223
Email: gradexec@chem.rutgers.edu