Graduate Program - Ph.D. Degree

Requirements for the Ph.D. Degree

View Requirements in PDF format

(Effective Fall, 2011)

General Overview

All entering graduate students in the department are strongly encouraged to pursue the Ph.D. degree. Thus, the aim of the program is to provide a challenging curriculum for all students, in addition to offering significant opportunities to those with less accomplished academic backgrounds. Further, the program has several components that are collectively designed to promote disciplinary competency, professional development, interdisciplinary training and research, group mentoring, collegiality among faculty and students, and dynamic student tracking. Emphasis of the doctoral program is placed on the integration of professional development into the curriculum and the opportunity for interdisciplinary training and research.

A total of 72 semester hours of graduate credit must be earned. Students will be required to complete a minimum coursework of 6 graduate courses (18 credit hours) and up to 54 hours of specialty and/or research hours for completion of the Ph.D. program in Chemistry. Divisions or advisory committees may require a student to take more than the 18 hours of coursework.

Master’s degree holders may transfer up to 9 hours of coursework from the Master’s degree, and Bachelor’s degree holders may transfer up to 6 hours of coursework toward the Ph.D. program.  In any event, any proposed transfers must be requested before the student is admitted to candidacy and approved by the Department of Chemistry’s Committee on Graduate Studies and the Executive committee of the Department.

All students must take at least two graduate courses outside of their sub-discipline which could be chemistry courses or those from other departments such as pharmacy, engineering, biochemistry, biology, or related disciplines.

Reading and Conference (205-293), and Special Laboratory Projects (205-294) may not be counted towards the 18 hours of required coursework. Seminar courses whose topics change may be taken multiple times for credit.

No course taken more than seven years prior to the semester in which the student presents himself/herself for candidacy will be credited toward the degree.  Courses may be recertified by recommendation of the of the Departmental Chair, based upon special written examination by the candidate. PLEASE NOTE: A Graduate School regulation states that any course more than ten years old can only be recertified by retaking the course.

Residency Requirement

A minimum of six semesters of full-time study (at least 9 credit hours per semester) are required for the Ph.D. degree. At least four semesters of residence and full-time study shall be pursued in the Graduate School at Howard University. At least two of these four semesters of residence and full-time study shall be consecutive.

Students are expected to complete the Ph.D. degree within seven years from the date of initial registration in the program. They will be dropped from the program if they do not complete the degree within the specified time.

Selection of a Research Project

Students should begin interviewing individual faculty members near the end of the first semester of full-time study in order to identify common areas of interest and to select a research advisor and/or project. Each student is required to consult at least five faculty members, but is encouraged to interview even more. After a research advisor is selected and a research project agreed upon, the student, in consultation with the advisor and director of graduate studies, will pick an advisory committee (see section under advisory committee below).

Scholastic Requirements

A cumulative average of 3.00 (B) is required for graduation. A student will be permitted only two grades below “B”. In the event a student receives a third grade below “B” in the Ph.D. program, he/she will be dropped from the Ph.D. Program. A student whose grade point average (GPA) falls below the 3.00 average will be warned and informed that he/she must raise his/her GPA to at least 3.0 by the end of his/her next two semesters in residence. If the student fails to do this, he/she will be dropped from the Graduate School.

CAUTION: A student receiving a Master’s degree in this department but does not meet the requirement of Ph.D. candidacy may petition to reenter the Ph.D. program as a new student. Such a student should then request to transfer the applicable Master’s course work to the Ph.D. program.

Curriculum Practical Training (CPT)

Graduate students are strongly encouraged to use the Special Lab Project Course (Chem 294) to engage in an industrial and/or national laboratory internship with the consent of the research advisor. Participation in such industrial or national laboratories rotation will further expose our students to practical training in cutting-edge research. The course will carry 1-3 semester credit hours, and there must be joint advisorship between the University advisor and the External Advisor. A project outline must be clearly defined to enable an objective assessment of the quality of research work for the purpose of assigning letter grades. If the student does not have a research advisor, the Department Chair or Director of Graduate Studies would assume the role of the University Advisor.

1. Comprehensive Exams

Entering students will have 4 opportunities to pass comprehensive exams in three of the four areas (organic, inorganic, analytical, physical).

The exams will be administered during the 1st, 2nd and 3rd semesters. Exams will be coordinated by the division chair who will solicit question from the division members. The passing grade is set at 60%.

1st Attempt: The first week of Semester 1.
2nd Attempt: The first week of Semester 2 (By this time they’ve had 3 core classes)
3rd Attempt: The end of Semester 2 (By this time they’ve had 6 core classes)
4th Attempt: The first week of Semester 3 [Last Attempt]

2. Specialty Exam

The specialty exam will be administered at the end of the fourth semester and will consist of graduate level material in the student's area of study. Exams will be coordinated by the division chair who will solicit question from the division members. In addition to the required written exam, each division will have the flexibility to add division specific requirements to the specialty exam requirement.

The passing grade is set at 50%. If the student fails they will have a second opportunity to pass the exam during the first week of the 5th semester.

3. Research Proposal

The student will write, present and defend the research proposal before the end of the 5th semester. The research proposal will be based on the student’s research project.

4. Additional Requirements

The student will also satisfy the additional requirements below prior to candidacy:

a. Coursework 36hrs (minimum from 18 graduate courses the additional 18 may come from readings + conference etc)
b. RCR workshop
c. writing requirement

After successful completion of requirements 1-4 the student will be eligible to advance to candidacy.

Failure to complete any of the above requirements (1-4) will result in dismissal from the PhD program.

5. Departmental Seminar

During the 5th or 6th semester the student will present a departmental seminar on a topic that is unrelated to their graduate research project. The student will submit a five page research review on the seminar topic two weeks prior to the seminar date. The seminar will be advertised to the entire department two weeks before the seminar date.

6. Final Research Review

At a minimum of 2 months prior to setting a defense date the student will present a final research review to committee members and chemistry faculty. Faculty attendance will be encouraged. Committee members must attend the seminar and evaluate the student's performance before scheduling the exam.

7. Foreign Language/Computer Requirements

There is no language requirement for the Ph.D. program.
There is no computer requirement for the Ph.D. program.

8. English Competency and Expository Writing Requirement

All incoming graduate students are given an English Proficiency Examination. Students who fail are required to take and pass a no-credit expository writing workshop administered by the Graduate School. This is a graduate school requirement.

9. Responsible Conduct of Research Workshop

 All students are required to participate in a Workshop on “Responsible Conduct of Research”. This workshop, administered by the Graduate School will cover issues of interest to the Institutional Review Board (IRB), Intellectual Property, Scientific Ethics, Data Acquisition, Management, Sharing & Ownership, Scientific Misconduct, Conflict of Interest, Policies and Procedures Governing Research Involving Human Participants and Animal Subjects. This Workshop must be taken in the student’s first year of residence. This is a graduate school requirement.
 

10. Application for Candidacy

Before the end of the fifth semester, the student will apply for candidacy. The complete requirements for candidacy include: proficiency in expository writing, completion of the workshop on Ethics and Responsible Conduct of Research, compliance with comprehensive exam requirement, completion of required coursework, and competency in the oral presentations, and a written research proposal. A copy of the proposal must be submitted to the Graduate School with the application for candidacy. The proposal must be endorsed by the research advisor, and the candidacy forms must be signed by the advisor, director of graduate studies, and departmental chair prior to submission to the Graduate School.

11. Seminar Presentation to the Department

In a continuation of the efforts at providing opportunities for professional development, after admission to candidacy and prior to dissertation defense, the student will give a departmental seminar highlighting his/her research findings.

12. Dissertation Defense

This is the last of the major transitions by the student. The date for the dissertation defense is set by the Graduate School subsequent to the student’s submission of four copies of the dissertation. Prior to the submission, the final dissertation copy must have been critically reviewed by the dissertation committee which consists of the Advisory Committee, another faculty member, an External Examiner, and the Chair of the Department of Chemistry. The committee members shall be formally appointed by the graduate school upon recommendation of the department. The dissertation format shall follow the requirements as prescribed by the graduate school.

13. Final Oral Examination

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