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I. REQUIRED COURSES
1. Satisfactory completion of 30 credit hours of graduate chemistry courses (excluding the seminar course) is required for the M.S. degree. A maximum of 6 credits in research can be used towards the required 30 credits.
2. Continuous registration must be maintained (except for summers) until a degree is awarded. If no course or research is taken during the fall or spring semester, the student should register for Matriculation Continued, a non-credit course for which a reduced fee is charged. Failure to maintain continuous registration requires readmission and payment of a reinstatement fee for each term missed.
II. TOTAL CREDITS FOR THE DEGREE
1. Thirty graduate credits are required for the M.S.:
a. For full-time graduate students stopping at the M.S. degree, six credits must be in thesis research.
b. Part-time students who write and defend a thesis may not take more than six credits of thesis research.
2. Students are required to maintain a B average. If the average drops below B, the Graduate Dean's office sends a notice of unsatisfactory progress to the student, who must then meet with the Graduate Program Director to discuss the problem and outline conditions to be met in order to remain in the Program. If these conditions are not met, the student will be dropped from the Program.
3. No more than six credits of course work with a grade lower than B may be used for the M.S. degree. If the student transfers into the Ph.D. program, these credits will not count towards the Ph.D. (see Ph.D. requirements).
III. TRANSFER OF CREDITS
1. Transfer of course credits from outside Rutgers-Newark is allowed up to a maximum of 9 for the M.S. degree.
2. Only graduate courses taken as a graduate student with grades of B or better may be transferred.
3. Research credits, pass-fail credits and other non-graded credits may not be transferred.
4. Transfer may be made only after a student completes 12 hours of course-work at Rutgers-Newark with grades of B or better. These 12 hours may include graduate chemistry courses taken at Rutgers-Newark on a non-matriculated basis, through the Non-Degree Program. Any such credits should be transferred at this point.
IV. OTHER REQUIREMENTS
1. Breadth requirement:
Students are required to complete one course each from three course clusters with a grade of B or better.
- Cluster 1 consists of courses taught by Profs. Brenner-Moyer, Galoppini, and Szostak.
- Cluster 2 consists of courses taught by Profs. Akopov, Jaekle and Prokopchuk.
- Cluster 3 consists of courses taught by Profs. He, Jordan, Lalancette and Zhang.
- Cluster 4 consists of courses taught by Profs. Kinz-Thompson, Lockard, Pavanello, and Piotrowiak.
2. Library research paper:
Part-time candidates for the M.S. degree without thesis, must submit a library research paper on a topic agreed to by a faculty adviser. This is intended to insure that every advanced degree candidate has the experience of researching a topic in depth and organizing the results in written form; candidates offering research credits for the M.S. do this by presenting their research in the form of a written thesis (see below).
V. CANDIDACY AND COMPLETION OF THE DEGREE
1. As soon as the student fulfills all the requirements listed above, he or she should file for candidacy. This is done with a candidacy form obtained from the secretary.
2. Each student offering research credit toward the M.S., including all full-time students, must finally produce a finished written thesis and defend it before an examining committee of at least three members of the Chemistry Graduate Faculty.
VI. APPEALS
Appeals may be made in writing and/or in person to the Graduate Program Director who will establish an ad hoc review committee consisting of three professors. The committee will make a determination within one month's time and communicate its decision to the student and to the Director in writing. A student who is dissatisfied with the decision may appeal to the Dean of the Graduate School.