University of Nevada, Reno
Chemical Physics
Program
UNIVERSITY
OF NEVADA
RENO
The Ph.D. degree in Chemical Physics provides an interdisciplinary curriculum for those students whose primary research interests are in atomic and molecular physics and physical chemistry. While requiring the student to complete a rigorous selection of courses that outline the foundations of modern chemical physics, the program also offers extreme flexibility in the choice of dissertation topic as the student may choose any of the affiliated faculty in either the Department of Physics or the Department of Chemistry to serve as a research adviser.
Admission into the program is handled separately by the chemistry and physics departments. Interested students whose background is primarily in chemistry are encouraged to apply through the chemistry department, listing "chemical physics" as the specific area of chemistry on the application form. Those students whose background is in physics should likewise seek admission through the physics department. The individual departments provide financial support through teaching and research fellowships to the chemical physics students that they admit.
Degree requirements are provided for information only. Consult the General Catalog of the University of Nevada, Reno, for official program descriptions.
The curriculum in chemical physics is based on five required, or "core", courses which should be taken as early as possible in the student s residency. The core courses are comprised of the following:
Additional, or "elective," courses in areas of particular interest to the student are then used to fill out the curriculum. These courses are typically chosen from the 600- and 700-level courses offered by the physics, chemistry, and mathematics departments. A full breakdown of the degree requirements for the program is given below:
Required course credits..............................15
Independent studies (CHEM 793 or PHYS 792)...........12
Seminars*.............................................2
Electives**................... ......................19
Dissertation Credits.................................24
TOTAL CREDITS.................................72
*A minimum of two (2) seminar credits must involve an original oral presentation by the student.
**May include up to eight (8) credits of CHEM 794 ("Physical Chemistry Colloquium") and up to three (3) credits of PHYS 799 or CHEM 799 ("Dissertation")
Graduate course listings are available on the chemistry and physics web sites.
Director, Chemical Physics Program
Department of Chemistry
University of Nevada, Reno
1664 N. Virginia St.
Reno, Nevada 89557-0216
www.chem.unr.edu