PhD Program Overview
Stony Brook Chemistry PhD Program Showcase
The Ph.D. program in Chemistry at Stony Brook aims to train a new generation of scientists to take leadership positions in research and teaching.
Our department ranks among the best in the world, and we pride ourselves on the strength of the interactions between our graduate students and faculty. Graduate students conduct research in a wide range of fields, including core chemistry areas such as Organic, Inorganic and Physical Chemistry and more interdisciplinary fields such as Bioorganic, Computational and Materials Chemistry. Joint and affiliated faculty provide integral connections to other departments on campus, including Biochemistry, Geosciences, Materials Science, Physics, Pharmacology, Applied Math, and the Medical School, and to Brookhaven National Lab, including the BNL Center for Functional Nanomaterials and the National Synchrotron Light Source.
Research in the Chemistry Department is supplemented with an active seminar program, including special symposia throughout the year. Members of the department join in active discussions of current research and literature via our student seminar series and annual Chemistry Research Day. Most students also have the opportunity to attend national and international scientific meetings. Optional workshops provide further opportunities for interested students to develop their professional skills, focusing on areas such as research mentoring and proposal writing.
The department prizes excellence in teaching by both its faculty and graduate students. Stony Brook’s bright and enthusiastic undergraduates provide our graduate students with a stimulating and rewarding teaching experience. Graduate students also interact closely with the faculty who teach the undergraduate courses, and they often develop long-lasting relationships as a consequence of such collaborations. Graduate students who have excelled in teaching and research are honored at the department’s yearly awards ceremony.
The quality of the education and training offered by our program is reflected by the participation of many affiliated faculty outside of the core department, and outstanding outcomes for some 800 Ph.D. graduates who hold excellent positions at educational institutions and in industry. In the last 23 years, we have graduated 518 students, with an average time to degree of about 5 1/2 years, with over 86% of our students graduating in no more than 6 years after entering the program.