Chemistry - DOCTORATE (PHD)

DEGREE OVERVIEW

The UTA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry is a vibrant, young and growing department with 20 tenured and tenure-track faculty advising over 90 full-time graduate students, 20 or more postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists, and a host of undergraduates getting their first exposure to scientific research at the highest level. We have active research programs in analytical, organic, biochemistry, physical, and inorganic chemistry, with most faculty having research programs which cross over traditional divisional boundaries. Our Ph.D. program includes an industrial internship.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

A Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Texas at Arlington will prepare you with rare and valuable skills for a career as an independent scientist and leader. Our research programs offer well-funded opportunities and collaborative environments with advanced chemical instrumentation at the forefront of important research and development initiatives. We build analytical techniques and instruments for use in biomedicine, the environment, and even on the Mars lander. We discover molecular and biomolecular anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, immunomodulating, and neuronal survival medicines; and define underlying genetic and enzyme control of physiological processes. We study energy and resource solutions by new catalyst design. We synthesis complex naturally occurring molecules and new species with valuable function in (bio)sensing, separations sciences, and medicine. And we computationally investigate thermodynamic and kinetic properties of materials and biomolecules. To get a better idea of the range of research under way in the department and to identify faculty and research programs which interest you, visit our faculty members webpage!

LEARN MORE

• Admissions requirements and degree curriculum
• Degree information in the University Catalog
• Chemistry and Biochemistry faculty
• Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

• Career in chemical,
• biochemical,
• pharmaceutical,
• biotech industries,
• government,
• laboratories, or
• academics

DEGREE OPTIONS

Ph.D. in Chemistry

This program is ideally suited for students interested in a career in chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech industries; government and industrial laboratories; or in academic institutions. The program’s areas of research include analytical chemistry, biochemistry, bioinorganic chemistry, colloid and surface chemistry, electrochemistry, inorganic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, physical chemistry, polymer chemistry, and theoretical chemistry.

In addition to the traditional Ph.D. curriculum, the program mandates that students acquire working knowledge of the type of research conducted in industry and of the constraints (both practical and philosophical) under which it is carried out. This industrial internship is a required component of the doctoral degree at UTA and, in fact, is one of the more popular components of our program and distinguishes us from most other doctoral chemistry programs. During the industrial internship, you will spend three to four months interning at industrial or government research companies such as Merck, Alcon Labs, SABIC, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, and Exxon-Mobil, to name a few. This internship is obtained for the student by the department and every effort is made to match the type of work and the company with the student's interests. This internship is often invaluable in guiding and obtaining research positions at these same and related companies. 

The internship requirement recognizes the importance of providing chemistry graduate students with a broad range of research experiences and to better prepare them for the transition from academia to careers as practicing chemists. This practical research experience has proven very valuable in helping students to define their career objectives and expand their knowledge of the range of chemical research opportunities. Ultimately, it offers students a significant advantage when looking for their first job. 

The traditional (required and elective) coursework includes analytical, biological, inorganic, organic, and physical chemistry courses. Instead of taking comprehensive or cumulative examinations, our students are required, by the middle of their third year, to write and orally defend a proposal based on an original research idea. The final degree requirement, upon completion of their research, is the writing and oral defense of the dissertation. 

Ph.D. in Chemistry Catalog

WHY CHOOSE US?

UTA's unique internship requirement recognizes the importance of providing chemistry graduate students with a broad range of research experiences and better prepares them for the transition from academia to careers as practicing chemists. This practical research experience has proven very valuable in helping students to define their career objectives and expand their knowledge of the range of chemical research opportunities. Ultimately, it can offer students a significant advantage when looking for their first job.

The department currently has over $3 million per year in external grant support.

The department houses one of the world’s finest collections of equipment and instrumentation. The Shimadzu Center for Advanced Analytical Chemistry provides researchers at UTA and from around the world with superb capability for molecular, biomolecular, and materials detection and quantification.

GET STARTED

Take the next step toward investing in yourself by learning more about our Chemistry - Doctorate (PHD) program.