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Program Information

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Detailed Information

Program of Study

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry offers a Ph.D. program in chemistry with specializations in analytical chemistry, biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and materials chemistry. The Department also has an interdisciplinary focus in the fields of materials and biological chemistry and employs several faculty members whose research interests overlap in these areas.

The doctoral degree in chemistry is a research degree. To be awarded this degree, the student must, to the satisfaction of the graduate committee, demonstrate the ability to conduct original and independent research within some area of chemistry and must make an original contribution to science. Candidates must also successfully complete cumulative exams, required graduate course work, and meet other requirements of the Department and Graduate School. In addition, the Ph.D. candidate must write and defend an original research proposal.

Research Facilities

The Department’s research activities are supported by a full spectrum of modern chemical instruments and support facilities. Research shops for electronics, machining, fine instruments, and electron and atomic force microscopy provide essential services for many research projects. Major equipment available to the Department includes three Varian Inova NMR spectrometers (300, 400, 500 MHz) numerous FTIRs, an ABI 4700 MALDI TOF/TOF, a Bruker Microflex MALDI reTOF, a Bruker HPLC-ESI HCT, and a Thermofinnigan GCMS, as well as a class 100 clean room. More routine equipment, such as UV-VIS absorbance, ICP-AES, HPLC, CE, GC, and AA is commonly available. Other major equipment items, such as gel permeation chromatography, DSC, TGA, polarized optical microscopy, modern electrochemical instrumentation, and materials characterization equipment are associated with specific research groups. In addition, a multitude of personal computers connected to a campuswide network, including a thirty-two-station computer laboratory, are also located within the Department.

Financial Aid

Successful candidates are offered an opening in the Department’s graduate program and an assistantship at the current stipend rate for an academic year. Assuming graduate school approval, the assistantship includes a tuition waiver. Student fees are not considered a part of tuition. Incoming graduate students are usually teaching assistants for the first year, with approximately 6 to 9 contact hours per week as laboratory instructors. Some grading, proctoring, and laboratory preparation may also be assigned. By the end of the first semester, graduate students are expected to join a research group and become research assistants. Assuming satisfactory performance, assistantships are renewable.

Fellowships for outstanding students, as well as dedicated fellowships for minority students, are available through the Department and the University.

Cost of Study

In-state graduate tuition is $328 per credit hour in 2009–10. Out-of-state tuition is 2.5 times the in-state tuition rate ($820 per credit hour). Graduate students with at least a 25 percent appointment as a graduate assistant receive a tuition scholarship. Fees vary from $589.03 (1 credit hour) to $1,557.50 (12 credit hours). Students with a graduate assistantship receive a 25 percent reduction in the primary care medical fee.

Living and Housing Costs

For married couples, students with families, and single graduate students, the University has 690 efficiency and one-, two-, three-, and four-bedroom apartments that rent for $499 to $720 per month in 2009–10. Residence halls for single graduate students are also available, as are accessible residence hall rooms and apartments for students with disabilities.

Student Group

The Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) campus has more than 20,000 students, approximately 4,500 of whom are enrolled in graduate programs with more than 1,000 international graduate students representing over 100 countries. The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has a total of approximately 45 graduate students enrolled in the Ph.D. and master’s programs.

Student Outcomes

The Department has a distinguished list of alumni making substantial impact at places such as the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Florida, Kansas State, DuPont, Monsanto, Genentech, BASF, and Bristol-Meyers Squibb.

Location

SIUC is 350 miles south of Chicago and 100 miles southeast of St. Louis. Nestled in rolling hills bordered by the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and enhanced by a mild climate, the area has state parks, national forests and wildlife refuges, and large lakes for outdoor recreation. Cultural offerings include theater, opera, concerts, art exhibits, and cinema. Educational facilities for the families of students are excellent.

The University

Southern Illinois University Carbondale is a comprehensive public university with a variety of general and professional education programs. The University offers associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees; the J.D. degree; and the M.D. degree. The University is fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The Graduate School has an essential role in the development and coordination of graduate instruction and research programs. The Graduate Council has academic responsibility for determining graduate standards, recommending new graduate programs and research centers, and establishing policies to facilitate the research effort.

Applying

Application for admission is a two-step process. First, the Graduate School has an online application (http://www.siu.edu/gradschl/) that may be completed at any time. Second, the Department has a supplemental application that must also be completed. Students may start in the fall or, in special cases, in the spring. As a rule, new students are not admitted for summer session. While there are no specific deadlines in the Department, domestic applications should be completed as early in January as possible for the following fall term if the applicant is interested in nomination for fellowships or scholarships offered outside the Department. International applications have the best opportunity for consideration in the Department if completed applications are on file at least seven months in advance of the requested date of admission. TOEFL or IELTS and Test of Spoken English (TSE) scores are required for international applicants. GRE scores are required for all applicants.

Further information and application packets can be obtained directly from the Department by mail, e-mail, or printed from the Department’s Web site at http://www.chem.siu.edu/.

The Faculty and Their Research

• Mark J. Bausch, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Northwestern 1982. Organic chemistry.
• Bakul Dave, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Houston, 1993. Inorganic/materials chemistry, inorganic and organic nanocomposites, sol-gel based materials, bioinorganic chemistry.
• Daniel J. Dyer, Professor; Ph.D., Colorado, 1996. Organic/materials chemistry, design and synthesis of organic materials, polymers, and fluorescent sensors.
• Yong Gao, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Alberta, 1998. Organic/materials/biological chemistry, design and synthesis of nanomaterials for biological applications.
• Qingfeng Ge, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Tianjin University (China), 1991. Theoretical studies of electrocatalytic processes in fuel cells and biological systems.
• Boyd Goodson, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Berkeley, 1999. Physical chemistry, optical/nuclear double resonance spectroscopy.
• Kara Huff Hartz, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Purdue, 2002. Analytical chemistry, environmental nanoparticle sampling and analysis, filter collection, chromatography, mass spectrometry.
• Gary Kinsel, Professor and Chair; Ph.D., Colorado, 1989. Analytical chemistry, laser mass spectrometry for biomolecular analysis.
• Punit Kohli, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Michigan State, 2000. Organic/materials chemistry, self-assembly of nanotubes and nanoparticles using molecular recognition principles, highly selective biological-tailored nanotube membranes for transport studies.
• John A. Koropchak, Professor and Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Dean; Ph.D., Georgia, 1980. Analytical chemistry, atomic spectroscopy, metal speciation, separations detection, condensation nucleation light scattering detection, single molecule detection, capillary separations.
• Brian Lee, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Maryland, 1997. Biochemistry, biomolecular NMR spectroscopy to study the interactions and structures of proteins and nucleic acids that participate in translational regulation.
• Jay C. Means, Professor and Dean of the College of Science; Ph.D., Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1976. Genetic toxicity of various classes of organic compounds in lab animals, DNA adduct detection.
• Matthew E. McCarroll, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Idaho, 1998. Analytical chemistry, florescence spectroscopy, chiral and molecular recognition, organized media, stationary-phase development, capillary electrophoresis, development of florescence sensors.
• Gabriela Pérez-Alvarado, Assistant Professor; Ph.D., Maryland, 1995. Biochemistry; application of NMR spectroscopy, molecular biological, biochemical, and biophysical techniques to characterize the structure, dynamics, and molecular interactions of multidomain proteins involved in normal cell regulation and cancer metastasis.
• Luke T. Tolley, Associate Professor; Ph.D., North Carolina, 2001. Analytical chemistry, chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, intercellular signaling biomarkers.
• Lichang Wang, Associate Professor; Ph.D., Copenhagen, 1993. Physical/materials chemistry, computational/theoretical, material and catalytic properties of transition metal nanoparticles, hydrogen bonding network in self-assembled monolayers, activities of enzymes in biochemical reactions.
• Emeritus Faculty
• Roger E. Beyler, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Illinois, 1949.
• Albert L. Caskey, Associate Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Iowa State 1961.
• John C. Guyon, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Purdue, 1961.
• Herbert I. Hadler, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Wisconsin, 1952.
• Conrad C. Hinckley, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Texas, 1964.
• David F. Koster, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Texas A&M, 1965.
• Cal Y. Meyers, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Illinois, 1951.
• Gerard V. Smith, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Arkansas, 1959.
• Russell F. Trimble, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., MIT, 1950.
• James Tyrrell, Professor Emeritus; Ph.D., Glasgow, 1963.

Correspondence and Information

1245 Lincoln Drive
Graduate Admissions Chair
SIUC Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Neckers C224, MC 4409
Carbondale, Illinois 62901-4409
Email: chemistry@chem.siu.edu