Department of Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry provides programs of graduate study leading to the MS and the PhD in chemistry in the fields of analytical, biological, inorganic and materials, organic, and physical chemistry. Interdisciplinary research is also currently conducted in the areas of surface science, combinatorial chemistry, natural products synthesis, nanotechnology, biosensors, laser spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, and biophysical chemistry.

The Department of Chemistry is housed in a modern chemistry complex that includes Eberly Hall, Chevron Annex, Ashe Lecture Halls, and the 15-story Chevron Science Center. The Chemistry Instrumentation Center is an in-house research instrumentation laboratory that includes NMR, mass spectroscopy, and X-ray crystallography facilities. In addition to instrumentation within individual research groups, the department supports a vast array of modern research instruments, including three 300 MHz NMRs, one 500 MHz NMR, one 600 MHz NMR, two high-resolution and two low-resolution mass spectrometers, a light-scattering instrument, a circular dichroism spectrophotometer, a spectropolarimeter, X-ray systems for both single crystal and powder samples, a scanning electron microscope, an atomic force microscope, a vibrating sample magnetometer, several FT-IR and UV-VIS spectrophotometers, an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, an AFM-Raman system, and workstation computer clusters. Additional shared research resources include in-house materials characterization laboratory, machine shop, electronics shop, and glassblowing laboratory; helium recovery system, and the Dietrich School Scientific Stockroom.

Contact Information

Department Chair: Haitao Liu
Director of Graduate Studies: Geoffrey Hutchinson
Graduate Program Administrator: Christie Hay
Main Office: 234 Chevron Science Center
412-624-8200
Fax: 412-624-8611
E-mail: gradadm@pitt.edu
www.chem.pitt.edu

Admissions

A bachelor’s degree in chemistry, or closely related discipline, including courses in mathematics through integral calculus, is preferred. In addition, the student must meet the general Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences requirements for admission to graduate study.

All applicants are recommended to submit Graduate Record Examination (GRE) and advanced chemistry GRE scores. International applicants must also submit TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo scores. The minimum acceptable TOEFL score for the Department of Chemistry is 100 with a minimum of 22 in each category. The minimum IELTS score for the Department of Chemistry is a 7.0 with a minimum of 6.5 in each section. The minimum Duolingo score is 120.

Financial Assistance

All full-time doctoral students in good academic standing receive complete financial support in the form of teaching assistantships, research assistantships or competitive departmental or university fellowships. This support is available throughout a student’s graduate career, including summer sessions. High quality UPMC health care coverage is provided with all assistantships and fellowships.

Faculty

http://www.chem.pitt.edu/people/faculty

Overview of Degree Program

The chemistry department has ca. 32 tenured/tenure track faculty members and typically accepts ca. 40 doctoral students each year. Student interested in applying for the M.S. program should contact the department prior to applying. Typical time to earn a PhD is five to six years.

Degree Requirements

Entering students take appraisal exams in each of four areas of chemistry: analytical, inorganic/materials, organic and physical. In discussion with a member of the department’s Graduate Student Advisement Committee, scores on the appraisal exams are considered, as each student selects and registers for appropriate coursework. Midway through the first year in residence, students are assigned to research groups. The remainder of the student’s graduate program is developed in consultation with their research advisor. Satisfactory performance in graduate core courses is required for students to pass the preliminary examination, as well as a brief written and oral overview of a research project with the student’s committee. All advanced degree programs require original research and course work. Additional requirements include a comprehensive examination, thesis/dissertation, and defense.

Programs

Master’s

Courses

Chemistry

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