Fall Graduate Seminar CHEM 691

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Fall Graduate SeminarCHEM 691

• Welcome Address from GPD

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Outline

• Introductions
• Program Structure
• Goals of Seminar
• Website http//alpha.chem.umb.edu/chemistry/Semin
  ar/chem691index

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M.S. in Chemistry

• Six courses
• Synthetic Organic or Physical Organic
• Inorganic Synthesis and Analysis or Inorganic
  Structure and Reactivity
• Quantum Mechanics and Spectroscopy or
  Thermodynamics
• Three additional elective courses
• Literature Seminar
• Thesis Defense

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Ph.D. in Green Chemistry

• Six courses
• Synthetic Organic or Physical Organic
• Inorganic Synthesis and Analysis or Inorganic
  Structure and Reactivity
• Quantum Mechanics and Spectroscopy or
  Thermodynamics
• Green Chemistry and Chemical Toxicology
• One elective course
• Literature Seminar
• Written Qualifying Exam
• Oral Qualifying Exam
• Dissertation Defense

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Ideal Timeline for full-time MS Track

• Semester 1
• Two courses, choose research advisor
• Semester 2
• Two courses, begin research, select your thesis
  committee
• Semester 3
• Two courses, literature seminar, continue
  research
• Semester 4
• Finish research, write thesis
• Second Summer
• Defend thesis

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Ideal Timeline for full-time Ph.D. Track

• Year 1
• Four courses, choose research advisor, begin
  research, select dissertation committee
• Year 2
• Two courses, literature seminar, continue
  research
• Year 3
• Written qualifying exam, continue research
• Year 4
• Oral qualifying exam, continue research
• Year 5
• Finish research, write and defend dissertation

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Literature Seminar

• 40 minute talk as part of this course (691/692)
• On subject of interest, should have limited
  overlap with any on-going research in the
  department (especially from advisors research)
• Should obtain guidance from research advisor in
  selecting a topic
• Must get approval of topic from GPD

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More on Literature Seminar

• Make sure your talk focuses on chemistry
• Base your talk on a article from the primary
  literature (avoid review articles)
• Skim your favorite journal to select an article
• Background Use references from this article to
  obtain secondary articles/perform a key word
  searches
• Do not be afraid to stop and start over from
  scratch a few times to find the right topic for
  you.

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Format of the Literature seminar

• Powerpoint Presentation
• Introduction
• Experimental Methods and Design
• Data
• Discussion
• Conclusion

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Format of the Literature Seminar Continued

• It is better to go in depth than to go too broad
  and only scratch the surface.
• Give brief broad introduction to connected to the
  world we live in. Why should we care? How does
  the work your going to talk about fit in?
• How was the experiments carried out.
• Critical examination of data.
• Summary and discussion of significance and what
  comes next the next logical step in this line of
  research.

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Written Qualifying Exam

• Six exams in one day based on six articles from
  the primary literature
• Articles are distributed six weeks in advance
• In addition to the articles, the exams can focus
  on material from core courses
• More on strategy in approaching the WQE next week

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Oral Qualifying Exam

• You must prepare a research proposal in an area
  of study that is sufficiently removed from your
  dissertation research and other research
  interests being pursued within our department
• When choosing a topic, obtain suggestions from
  research advisor
• You must get approval from your dissertation
  committee and GPD before deciding on a topic

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More on the Oral Qualifying Exam

• You must follow NIH or NSF proposal guidelines,
  including the formatting of the sections, but
  with the exception that you must stay within a 15
  pg limit (You should shoot for between 12-15
  pgs).
• I suggest you ask you advisor, GPD or other
  faculty member for a copy of one of their funded
  proposals that you could use as a guide for the
  format
• You should revise back and forth several times
  with your advisor and forward your proposal to
  your committee only after approval from your
  advisor
• Must get approval from committee before
  scheduling a public, oral defense of your proposal

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Thesis Guidelines

• You should communicate regularly with your
  advisor to ensure that you are on track to
  graduate in a reasonable time span.
• You should revise your thesis back and forth
  several times with your advisor and forward your
  proposal to your committee only after approval
  from your advisor.
• You should obtain and closely follow the
  formatting guidelines from the Graduate Office.
  In addition to the guidelines from the graduate
  office, your style and formatting must confirm to
  the ACS (American Chemical Society) Style Manual.
  
• Must get approval from committee before
  scheduling a public, oral defense of your
  research.

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AGSR

• Once a year
• Self evaluation
• Advisors approval
• GPDs approval
• Comments back to you

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Goals of Seminar

• Introduction to departmental research/help to
  choose an advisor
• Workshop for learning how to structure research
  talks
• Practice giving scientific talks
• Forum for the Literature Seminar
• Practice for defense proposals