Chemical Physics Graduate Program
Members: Professors David Blank, Philippe Buhlmann, Kevin Dorfman, David Ferguson, David Flannigan, Daniel Frisbie, Renee Frontiera, Jiali Gao, Jason Goodpaster, Allen Goldman, J. Woods Halley, Christy Haynes, Cheng-Cher Huang, Doreen Leopold, Kenneth Leopold, Aaron Massari, David Morse, Matthew Neurock, Ilja Siepmann, David Thomas, and Donald Truhlar,
Director of Graduate Studies: Professor Renee Frontiera
The Graduate Program in Chemical Physics may be selected by students who wish to satisfy their degree requirement by a thesis in chemical physics combined with interdisciplinary course work. Chemical Physics graduate students may select an advisor or advisors from the members listed above whose research programs are described online at https://cse.umn.edu/chem/chemical-physics.
Prerequisites for entering the Chemical Physics Graduate Program:
Adequate preparation in mathematics, intermediate physics, and physical chemistry
Acceptance by the Graduate School
Approval by the Chemical Physics Program’s Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). This approval will be granted only to those who demonstrate the ability to obtain financial support, such as an external fellowship or a teaching assistantship from one of the departments represented on our graduate faculty. In this regard, note that the Chemistry and Physics Departments consider entering Chemical Physics students for support with the same priority as students majoring in Chemistry and Physics, respectively.
Current graduate students with a teaching assistantship, research assistantship, or fellowship who wish to switch to Chemical Physics may do so upon obtaining the approval of the DGS.
A. Course program
All first-year chemical physics students will choose a program of study in consultation with their TMC (three member committee). Ordinarily course programs for Ph.D. students will include at least 24 graduate credits (5000 or 8000 level), which must include either:
at least 5 credits in chemistry (CHEM) and at least 5 credits in physics (PHYS),
or, at least 16 credits in chemistry and/or physics combined, including at least 5 credits of quantum mechanics and at least 5 credits chosen from among the areas of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, statistical physics, and chemical dynamics.
There is no minor or supporting field requirement, and no foreign language requirement.
B. Ethics training
Every student in the Chemical Physics Program must become acquainted with basic concepts of professional and research ethics as part of new student orientation and also receive subsequent training in the responsible conduct of research/professional ethics. Both the Chemistry Department and the Physics Department have programs in place to provide this training. Each student in the Chemical Physics Program should receive this training in the Chemistry Department or the Physics Department and will be responsible for completing the requirements of the department chosen.
C. Seminar
Seminars by leading researchers from other universities and from government and industrial laboratories are given in the Chemistry Department approximately weekly throughout the academic year. Chemical physics students also frequently find the research seminars held in Physics, Chemical Engineering and Material Science, and other departments to be of interest. First-year chemical physics students are expected to attend at least 15 seminars per semester and must register for CHPH 8601 for both semesters.
D. Choice of research advisor
The deadline for chemical physics students to choose a permanent research advisor to remain in good academic standing is the end of February for students who begin in Fall Semester. However, chemical physics students who require financial support (e.g., in the form of a teaching or research assistantship) from the Chemistry Department during the summer following their first year (as is the case for most students) must meet the Chemistry Department’s earlier deadline for choosing an advisor. Chemical physics students must report their choice of advisor to the Graduate Operations Office (115 Smith Hall) by this date to ensure summer support from the Chemistry Department. Students are expected to interview at least four faculty members regarding their research. Students should submit their choice, along with signatures of the interviewed faculty, to the Graduate Operations Office using the form attached at the end of this handbook.
E. M.S. Plan B Project, M.S. Plan A Thesis, and Doctoral Thesis Credits
As soon as a research advisor has been selected, students are expected to participate in research and register for the appropriate number of credits of CHPH 8081/2, CHPH 8777, and/or CHPH 8888 (but do not exceed the 14-credit per semester limit of the tuition benefit). Students admitted for the Ph.D. program who have not been awarded an M.S. degree in Chemical Physics from another institution, usually complete 4 credits of CHPH 8081 and 4 credits of CHPH 8082 before starting to enroll for CHPH 8888. This will allow the students to follow a concurrent procedure for the Preliminary Exam and the M.S. Plan B according to the guidelines for chemistry students. Upon completion of the 8 credits of CHPH 8081/2, students will enroll for a total of 24 credits of CHPH 8888 as expediently as permitted by the tuition benefit.
F. Written preliminary examination
For the written preliminary exam, a Chemical Physics student may select one of the two options:
Chemistry format.
Physics format. Interested students should contact the Physics Department for additional information.
Students should inform the Graduate Operations Office by the end of Spring Semester of their first year about their choice of the preliminary exam format.
Students should submit an abstract and potential written committee member names in mid- August, following the schedule of Chemistry graduate students, prior to the start of the second year in residence. The committee members should include three members of the Chemical Physics faculty. The three members of the written preliminary exam committee are selected by the Director of Graduate Studies in consultation with the Graduate Curriculum Committee.
G. Oral preliminary examination
To remain in good standing, students who have begun their graduate studies in chemical physics during Fall semester of their first year must take their oral preliminary examination by the end of the third week in February of their second year, and must have passed the exam by the end of May intersession of that year. However, students are encouraged to complete the oral preliminary examination before the start of spring semester. Those who do not meet these deadlines will no longer be in good standing in the Ph.D. Program and will be reclassified into the M.S. program in Chemical Physics. For a student beginning in Spring Semester or entering the program as advanced graduate students, an alternative schedule should be established by the Chemical Physics TMC at the first meeting.
The members of the oral preliminary examination committee will be the same three Chemical Physics faculty members who served on the student’s Written Preliminary Exam committee, plus one additional committee member from a different graduate program. This new name should be submitted to 115 Smith along with the Graduate Degree Program Form. Please note that it is virtually impossible (by Graduate School policy) to change the membership of an oral preliminary examination committee between an initially failed examination and the retake of the exam (if permitted). Students and faculty alike should consider this in their planning when faculty will be on leave in the term/year subsequent to the first examination date.
The oral preliminary exam usually lasts around 2 hours. Typically, for students who passed the written preliminary exam under the chemical physics or the chemistry format, the oral preliminary exam begins with a 20-minute long presentation of the written preliminary paper(s). The presentation is followed by questions based primarily on the paper(s) and on the underlying fundamentals of chemical physics. The student will be expected to answer fairly specialized questions on areas that are close to the proposed research topics, written preliminary paper(s), and courses taken, but the further the questioning is from these areas, the less knowledge will be expected. For students passing the written preliminary exam by the physics format, the exam usually begins with a brief research presentation and is followed by questions on the presentation, the research, the fundamentals underlying the research, and general chemical physics.
H. Third Year Through Graduation
All Chemical Physics graduate students will deliver a seminar on their research in the Spring term of their third year in residence, as part of the Departmental Research Symposium. Students will be provided with information about the symposium early in their third year
Thesis preparation should follow the guidelines found on the Graduate School website: www.grad.umn.edu. Students preparing for their final oral examination should submit the names of three faculty names from Chemical Physics, and one faculty member from a different graduate program. The student's advisor and the non-Chemical Physics faculty member are automatically assigned as reviewers. It is the student’s responsibility to contact all four persons regarding their willingness to serve as a committee member or reader. All approvals should be obtained before the request is submitted. Once the Thesis committee has been approved by the Graduate School, you will automatically be sent instructions to download your Graduation Packet with instructions and forms to complete the path to completing your degree. Many questions can be answered via the Graduate School website or by their staff in 333 Bruininks Hall.
The Graduate School requires that each copy of any thesis (either Plan A Masters or Doctoral) delivered to the Graduate School contain a separate page for the signature of the advisor. The signature page should be bound into both copies of the thesis as the first page in the volume, immediately preceding the title page. Both copies should be signed in order to assure that the advisor has seen and approved the actual, bound, final version of the thesis.
The format of the final oral defense involves the Ph.D. candidate giving a presentation on their research to the committee and any other attendees. This is then followed by questions from the committee. The questions period is held in private, with only the Ph.D. candidate and the committee members present. Any changes to assigned committee require approval by the Director of Graduate Studies. Report any necessary changes to the Graduate Operation Office in 115 Smith.