Contact Info

Contact:	Barbara Tessmer
Phone:	314-935-7316
Email:	barbara22@wustl.edu
Website:	http://www.chemistry.wustl.edu/graduate

Doctoral Candidacy

To earn a PhD at Washington University, a student must complete all courses required by their department; maintain satisfactory academic progress; pass certain examinations; fulfill residence and Mentored Experience Requirements; write, defend, and submit a dissertation; and apply to graduate via Workday Student. For the details of doctoral degree general requirements in Arts & Sciences, including an explanation of Satisfactory Academic Progress, students should review the Doctoral Degree Academic Information page of the Arts & Sciences Bulletin.

Program Requirements

• Total Units Required: 72
• Degree Length: 5 years
  • There is a one year minimum residence requirement for the PhD degree at Washington University in St. Louis. The PhD in Chemistry is a five-year program, with most of this time ordinarily spent doing research at Washington University in St. Louis. If necessary, a program extension can be requested and requires approval from the program and the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.
  • Note: Students must be enrolled in 9 graduate credits each semester to retain full-time status. As students complete their course work, if enrolled in fewer than 9 graduate credits, they must enroll in a specific Arts & Sciences graduate course that will show 0 units but does count as full-time status. Students should connect with their department to ensure proper enrollment prior to Add/Drop.
• Grade Requirement: A minimum grade of C is required for course work to count toward the degree with an overall GPA of at least 3.0.

PhD in Chemistry

Requirements:

• 72 units of graduate credit in courses and research
• Satisfactory performance on oral cumulative examinations
• Satisfactory performance in annual pre-thesis committee meetings
• Demonstration of teaching competence
• Dissertation research and preparation of dissertation
• Satisfactory performance on a final oral dissertation defense

Requirements specific to Chemistry include attendance at faculty research presentations during the student's first fall semester, presenting and passing an oral examination within the first four semesters, and annual recertification in laboratory safety.

Almost all students participate in mentored teaching experiences during their first two years and must perform satisfactorily. Students must also make annual research presentations to their advisory committee, prepare a satisfactory dissertation research proposal, and pass an oral examination.

Required Courses

Maintaining a GPA of at least 3.0 and passing at least four courses in the candidate’s research area and two courses out of that area by the end of four semesters in residence.

Qualifying Examinations

Progress toward the PhD is contingent upon the student passing examinations that are variously called preliminary, qualifying, general, comprehensive, or major field exams. The qualifying process varies according to the program. In some programs, it consists of a series of incremental, sequential, and cumulative exams over a considerable time. In others, the exams are held during a relatively short period of time. Exams may be replaced by one or more papers. The program, which determines the structure and schedule of the required examinations, is responsible for notifying the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, of the student’s outcome, whether successful or unsuccessful.

Mentored Experience Requirements

Doctoral students at Washington University must complete a department-defined Mentored Experience. The Mentored Experience Requirement is a doctoral degree requirement that is notated on the student’s transcript when complete. Each department has an established Mentored Experience Implementation Plan in which the number of units that a student must earn through Mentored Teaching Experience(s) and/or Mentored Professional Experience(s) is defined. The Mentored Experience Implementation Plans outline how doctoral students within the discipline will be mentored to achieve competencies in teaching at basic and advanced levels. Some departments may elect to include Mentored Professional Experiences as an avenue for completing some units of the Mentored Experience Requirement. Doctoral students will enroll in ASGS 8005, 8010, or 8015 Mentored Teaching Experience - Assistant in Instruction; ASGS 8020 Mentored Teaching Experience - Mentored Independent Teaching; or ASGS 8120 Mentored Professional Experience to signify their progression toward completing the overall Mentored Experience Requirement for the degree.

The Doctoral Dissertation

A Research Advisory Committee (RAC) must be created no later than the end of the student's third year; departments may set shorter timelines (e.g., by the end of the student's second year) for this requirement. As evidence of the mastery of a specific field of knowledge and of the capacity for original scholarly work, each candidate must complete a dissertation that is approved by their RAC.

A Title, Scope & Procedure Form for the dissertation must be signed by the committee members and by the program chair. It must be submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, at least six months before the degree is expected to be conferred or before the beginning of the fifth year of full-time enrollment, whichever is earlier.

A Doctoral Dissertation Guide and a Dissertation Template that give instructions regarding the format of the dissertation are available on the website of the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Both should be read carefully at every stage of dissertation preparation.

The Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences, requires each student to make the full text of the dissertation available to the committee members for their review at least one week before the defense. Most degree programs require two or more weeks for the review period; students should check with their faculty.

The Dissertation Defense

Approval of the written dissertation by the Research Advisory Committee (RAC) is strongly recommended before the student can orally defend the dissertation. The Doctoral Dissertation Committee that examines the student during the defense consists of at least five members. Normally, the members of the RAC also serve on the Doctoral Dissertation Committee. The dissertation committee is then additionally augmented to ensure that the following criteria are met:

1. Three of the five members (or a similar proportion of a larger committee) must be full-time Washington University in St. Louis faculty members or, for programs involving Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated partners, full-time members of a Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated partner institution. All members must be authorized to supervise PhD students and have appropriate expertise in the proposed field of study. One of these three members must be the PhD student's primary thesis advisor, and one may be a member of the emeritus faculty.
2. All other committee members must be active in research/scholarship and have appropriate expertise in the proposed field of study whether at Washington University in St. Louis, at another university, in government, or in industry.
3. At least one of the five members must bring expertise outside of the student's field of study to the committee, as judged by the relevant department/program and approved by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

The approval processes outlined in the RAC section of the Doctoral Council bylaws also apply to the doctoral dissertation committee, including approval of each dissertation committee by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

The student is responsible for making the full text of the dissertation accessible to their committee members for their review in advance of the defense according to program rules. Washington University in St. Louis community members and guests of the student who are interested in the subject of the dissertation are normally welcome to attend all or part of the defense but may ask questions only at the discretion of the committee chair. Although there is some variation among degree programs, the defense ordinarily focuses on the dissertation itself and its relation to the student's field of expertise.

Attendance by a minimum of four members of the Doctoral Dissertation Committee, including the committee chair and an outside member, is required for the defense to take place. This provision is designed to permit the student's defense to proceed in case of a situation that unexpectedly prevents one of the five members from attending. Students should not plan in advance to only have four members in attendance. If four members cannot attend, the defense must be rescheduled. The absence of all outside members or of the committee chair also requires rescheduling the defense.

Students, with the support of their Doctoral Dissertation Committee chair, may opt to hold their dissertation defense in person or by utilizing a virtual or hybrid format.

Submission of the Dissertation

After the defense, the student must submit an electronic copy of the dissertation online to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. The submission website requires students to choose among publishing and copyrighting services offered by ProQuest’s ETD Administrator. Students are asked to submit the Survey of Earned Doctorates separately. The degree program is responsible for delivering the final approval form, signed by the committee members at the defense and then by the program chair or director, to the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences. Students who defend their dissertations successfully have not yet completed their PhD requirements; they finish earning their degree only when their electronic dissertation submission has been accepted by the Office of Graduate Studies, Arts & Sciences.

Master's Degree Along the Way/
In Lieu of a PhD

Requirements:

• 36 units of graduate credit in courses and research
• Satisfactory performance on oral cumulative examinations
• Demonstration of teaching competence

As part of their degree requirements, PhD students must complete a program-defined Mentored Experience Requirement (MER) as per these guidelines. The Mentored Experience Implementation Plan (MEIP) is the written articulation of a program-defined degree requirement for PhD students to engage in mentored teaching activities and/or mentored professional activities, collectively referred to as MERs.

Mentored Experience Requirements (MERs)

Philosophy of Teaching

The Chemistry MER expands and enhances the opportunities available to students in the program and provides them with additional pathways to develop strong research and teaching portfolios.

PhD students in Chemistry can select from multiple tracks to fulfill the program's MER. These are defined below. It is important that students discuss track options with their thesis advisor and their thesis advisory committee.

Preparatory Engagement

Preparatory Engagement activities are those that represent an introduction to the foundational skills associated with teaching or communication. Pedagogical preparation engagement activities are normally completed before students are permitted to engage in assisting or teaching in a classroom.

There are two required Preparatory Engagement activities:

1. Entrance exams are given to evaluate readiness for potential Assistant in Instruction (AI) assignments. Advising is provided by a faculty mentor to review entrance exam results and discuss teaching goals and preferences.
2. Orientation is given prior to the student beginning their first experience as an AI. This orientation may consist of lab safety training, course-specific policy review, chemistry pedagogy, equity and inclusion, grading philosophy and practice, best practices for student interactions (small group and one-on-one), expectations and time management strategies, syllabus review, evaluation methods, collaborating with various chemistry colleagues, and interaction with the Washington University Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) on laboratory-specific education, laboratory-experiment practicum, and mentoring/coaching.

Reinforcement of these Preparatory Engagement activities is made available to graduate students from the course instructor, the CTL, and/or additional department teaching mentors before each AI experience.

Mentored Teaching Experiences (MTEs)

Assistant in Instruction (AI)

An Assistant in Instruction (AI) is a PhD student who is directly engaged in the organization, instruction, and/or support of a semester-long course primarily taught by a faculty member. An AI receives mentorship from a faculty member related to best practices in classroom engagement, instruction in the field, interpersonal engagement, and other relevant skills. Students and mentors complete a mentorship plan prior to the start of each AI experience. To complete each AI assignment and to ensure that it applies toward their degree requirements, students must register for the appropriate course number for each semester of engagement. Refer to the "Required Pathways for Completion" section below for course numbers and details.

PhD students in Chemistry start on the Common Track. After completing their pre-thesis exam (during their third semester as a full-time student), they are encouraged to discuss tracks with their thesis advisory committee. At that point, they may apply to either the Professional Track (two additional Mentored Professional Experiences) or the Teaching Intensive Pathway (one Mentored Independent Teaching Experience) with the approval of their thesis advisor and thesis advisory committee.   

Common Track

The Common Track involves the completion of four engagements as an AI in potentially different courses, resulting in a total of 40 MER units (10 units per experience).* These experiences usually take place during years 1 and 2 of the student's program, unless the student petitions the chair and business manager for different timing of the MTE to best serve their professional development (e.g., they want to perform the MTE in a specific course that will not be offered until year 3 of their program).

*

This number is based on the mandatory activities associated with the MTE (e.g., attending lectures and recitation sections, grading).

Required Pathways for Completion

Students work with their faculty mentor and their Director of Graduate Studies to plan how and when they will complete their MERs. Students register during the normal registration period for courses in accordance with one of these approved pathways.

• Preparatory Engagement

Pathway #1

UG Spanish Seminar

ASGS 8010	Take four times

Optional Activity: Teaching Intensive Pathway (TIP)

The TIP is an optional pathway for those students whose career interests lie in academia or another field that would benefit from extended teaching experiences. This immersive experience allows students to further explore the breadth and depth of teaching best practices and pedagogy related to their respective field. Students who are interested in participating in this elective experience must formally request to participate, which is subject to program approval. Due to this experience being an elective, unpaid experience, students who participate in the TIP will not receive compensation.

For this pathway, the student must complete the Common Track plus one Mentored Independent Teaching Experience for 20 MER units. The student must be the instructor or co-instructor of record in a new or existing course. A Mentored Independent Teaching Experience may be counted as an advanced teaching experience for the Common Track, but it will be distinct from the standard advanced teaching experiences completed by students on the Common Track and outlined in the Teaching Requirement Form.

Optional Pathway

UG Spanish Seminar

ASGS 8020	Take one time

Optional Activity: Professional Intensive Pathway (PIP)

The PIP is an optional pathway for those students whose career interests lie outside of academia or who want to benefit from mentored professional experiences (MPEs). An MPE is an unpaid professional experience for PhD students that allows students to develop skills and experiences relevant to their intended career outcomes. Students and mentors complete a mentorship plan prior to the start of each MPE. Students who are interested in participating in this elective experience must formally request to participate, which is subject to program approval. Due to this experience being an elective, unpaid experience, students who participate in the PIP will not receive compensation. 

For this pathway, the student must complete the Common Track plus two Mentored Professional Experiences at 20 MER units each. This track builds experiential education into the PhD training for these students, providing them with valuable opportunities to develop networks, skills, and professional experiences that enhance their professional portfolios.

Optional Pathway

UG Spanish Seminar

ASGS 8120	Take two times