Current Students

The complete requirements for graduate students are available in the Graduate Student Handbook.

M.S. Degree Requirements

Two degree options are available for an M.S. in Chemistry. Plan I includes both coursework and research and culminates in a master's thesis. Plan III is an alternative M.S. degree program that focuses soley on coursework and does not invlove writing a thesis. Approximately two to three years are required to complete either program.

A full description of the M.S. degree requirements is available in the UNM Catalog.

Ph.D. Requirements

While at least 18 credit hours of formal lecture courses at the 500 level are required for the degree, the central focus is on research. This effort culminates in the preparation and defense of a dissertation describing an original contribution to the field of chemistry. Intensive training in research prepares Ph.D. candidates for a career in university teaching and research, industrial or governmental research, or college teaching. See the course requirements for the Ph.D. 

During the student's fourth semester in the program, students are expected to prepare, present, and defend a proposal that defines the goals, rationale, and methodology of the anticipated research. The research proposal is presented in seminar form and is then defended orally before the student's Committee-on-Studies. This defense provides the oral examination traditionally required for admission to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. After admission to candidacy, the student completes the dissertation research and writes the dissertation under the supervision of the research advisor. The final examination for the Ph.D. is an oral defense of the dissertation.

The time required to complete all requirements for the Ph.D. degree depends on the student's preparation prior to entering the program and on his or her drive and perseverance in following through a research plan. However, many students are able to earn a Ph.D. in four to five years.

A full description of the Ph.D. requirements can be found in the UNM Catalog.