Program in Chemistry College of Arts and Sciences The University of Alabama at Birmingham

A Highly Ranked Graduate School in Chemistry at a Top Southeastern University

The highly rated Department of Chemistry at University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) delivers research-oriented degrees with cutting edge facilities and instrumentation.

The University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) is ranked as one of the Best Southeastern Colleges and among the top 15% of colleges and universities in the US by "Princeton Review." They also rated the UAB student body to be 11th happiest in the nation. According to "US News and World Report," UAB's School of Chemistry consistently ranks in the upper 3rd of all schools in the country. In the Higher Education Evaluation and Accreditation Council of Taiwan Ranking of Significant Scientific Papers, UAB placed 94th worldwide.

UAB Chemistry offers both Masters (MS) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degrees.

A Research Powerhouse

UAB is regularly ranked in the top 20 nationally and 4th in the southeast for federal research funding. Active research topics at UAB include chemical education, DNA microarrays, drug design, electron transfer reactions, inorganic polymers, main group inorganic synthesis, matrix assisted laser desorptions spectroscopy (MALDI), metallacrown ethers, nanocrystals, NMR spectroscopy, nonlinear optical materials, photophysics of coordination compounds, polymer synthesis, polymer thin films and devices, quantum chemistry, retinoids biochemistry, and spectroscopy.

UAB is regularly ranked in the top 20 nationally and 4th in the southeast for federal research funding. Active research topics at UAB include chemical education, DNA microarrays, drug design, electron transfer reactions, inorganic polymers, main group inorganic synthesis, matrix assisted laser desorptions spectroscopy (MALDI), metallacrown ethers, nanocrystals, NMR spectroscopy, nonlinear optical materials, photophysics of coordination compounds, polymer synthesis, polymer thin films and devices, quantum chemistry, retinoids biochemistry, and spectroscopy.

All graduate students pursue a core curriculum of 6 required courses, 2 electives, and 6 hours of thesis credit. All students are required to present literature seminars after their first years of study. Students may also choose to enroll in courses offered in the Basic Health Sciences and the Joint Material Sciences Programs to extend their knowledge in related fields and increase their ability to perform interdisciplinary research.

The PhD in Chemistry at UAB

PhD candidates in the Department of Chemistry at UAB complete a course of study including 48 semester hours of class material and an original dissertation. Sixteen of the 48 hours may be awarded for non-dissertation research credits while a further 10 credits may be awarded for lab rotations, seminars, or directed study credits.

Up to 12 hours of transfer credit may be applied to completion of the degree.

A Respected Faculty

Notable faculty members in the Department of Chemistry at UAB includes Professor Wayne J. Brouillette, a recipient of the Caroline P. and Charles W. Ireland Prize for Scholarly Distinction. He serves on the editorial board of Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry and Medicinal Research Reviews, and serves as Director for the Laboratory of Medicinal and Combinatorial Chemistry for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering at UAB.

Dr. Brouillette specializes in the design and synthesis of small organic molecules to serve as drugs. He holds numerous patents, has authored chapters in 4 books, and serves as grant reviewer for the NIH, the American Heart Association, the Petroleum Research Fund, and the International Science Fund.

Professor David E. Graves. An expert in biochemistry, particularly in the structure and functions of anti-cancer agents containing nucleic acids, Dr. Graves serves as Chemistry Department chair and as Chemistry Program Graduate Director and is a member of the interdisciplinary Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Professor Graves' recent research has been in modeling Ligand-DNA interactions and determining their structures and the energetics of the resulting reactions. This work is central to creating the cancer treatments of the future and is funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and other agencies.

Another prominent member of the UAB chemistry team is Professor Eugenia Kharlampieva. A member of the Executive Committee member at Oak Ridge National Lab, SHUG (SNS and HFIR User Group), Dr. Kharlampieva is an expert in nanoparticles and their reactions, particularly nano-coatings based on synthetic thin film proteins. A reviewer for "Chemistry of Materials," "Soft Matter," "ACS Nano," and "Chemical Communications," Professor Kharlampeiva has also chaired the IEEE Biosensors conference on optical biosensors.

Cutting Edge Facilities at UAB Department of Chemistry

Facilities at the Department of Chemistry at UAB reflect the school's position as a regional research center. The ultra-thin materials lab is equipped with a state-of-the-art Surface plasmon spectrometer, a Langmuir-Blodgett trough, and other equipment. The polymer materials synthesis lab offers a full array of equipment including a CEMCO 4-L inert atmosphere polymerization apparatus, inert atmosphere glove boxes, and a Paar high pressure stirred reactor.

The Polymer Molecular and Physical Characterization lab has various osmometers, an A LDC/Milton Roy Spectrophotometer 3 tunable UV detector, various spectrometers and chromatographs, and an Otsuka Electronics DRM-1020 double beam differential refractometer. The drug discovery lab boasts apparatus for computer-assisted drug design, combinatorial chemistry, HPLC Preparative Separations, protein isolation and purification, and biological spectroscopy.

A Vibrant Campus in Birmingham

Since its inception in 1936, UAB has been instrumental in providing education, research, and economic development to the southeastern United States. Located on 83 blocks in the downtown southside neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama, UAB is an eclectic mix of modern buildings and historic structures. The Chemistry Department is located in the newly refurbished 45,000 square-foot chemistry building.

UAB serves a student body of nearly 20,000.

• Degrees Offered
• Major Degree Levels Offered
• Master of Science (MS)
  Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

• Degrees Awarded
• Master's Degrees 13
• Doctoral Degrees 3
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported
• * Shows the number of degrees awarded for the last academic year that data was reported.

• Earning Your Degree
• Part-time study available? Not reported
• Evening/weekend programs available? No
• Distance learning programs available? Not reported
• Terminal master's degree available? Not reported

• Degree Requirements
• Master's Degrees Required for some
• Doctoral Degrees Required
• First Professional Degrees Not reported
• Other Advanced Degrees Not reported

• Acceptance Rate
• AppliedNot Reported
• AcceptedNot Reported
• Acceptance RateNot Reported
• EnrolledNot Reported
• Applying
• Application Fee - Domestic $45
• Application Fee - International $60
• Electronic applications accepted? Not Reported
• Applications processed on a rolling basis? Yes
• Application Deadlines
• Type Domestic International Priority Date
• Fall deadline July 1st Not Reported Not Reported
• Winter deadline Not Reported Not Reported Not Reported
• Spring deadline November 1st Not Reported Not Reported
• Entrance Requirements
• Master's DegreesGRE General Test, letters of recommendation
• Doctoral's DegreesGRE General Test, letters of recommendation
• First-Professional's DegreesNot Reported
• Other Advanced DegreesNot Reported
• International DegreesTOEFL required

• Tuition & Fees
• In-state tuition *$6,420
• Out-of-state tuition *$14,574
• International student tuition$14,574
• * Tuition for full-time graduate student per academic year
• Fees
• Per-academic year feesNot Reported
• Per-term feesNot Reported
• One-time feeNot Reported
• * Fees for full-time graduate students
• Financial Support
• Financial award applicants must submitFAFSA
• Application deadlines for financial awardsMay 1
• Types of financial support availableCareer or Field-Related Internships, Federal Work-Study, Financial Support for Part-time Students, Health Care Benefits, Institutionally-sponsored Loans, Graduate Assistantships

• Gender
• Total Graduate Students37
• Female Percentage65%
• Male Percentage35%
• Participation
• Total Graduate Students37
• Part-time Percentage11%
• Full-time Percentage89%
• Ethnicity
• Hispanic / Latino10%
• Black / African American10%
• White / Caucasian67%
• American Indian / Alaskan Native0%
• Asian14%
• Native Hawaiian / Other Pacific Islander0%
• Two or more races0%
• Unknown-1%

• Existing Research
• Focus of faculty researchDrug discovery and synthesis, structural biochemistry and physical biochemistry, synthesis and characterization of advanced materials and polymers
• Externally sponsored research expenditures last year$707,000