Chemistry

Department Chairperson: Professor Andrew G. Sykes
Graduate Program Director: Associate Professor Ranjit T. Koodali

Department of Chemistry
Churchill-Haines, Room 115
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069
Phone: 605-677-5487
http://www.usd.edu/chemistry

Departmental Faculty

Professors:

Mary T. Berry, Ph.D., University of Virginia. Specialization: Physical Chemistry, Lanthanide Spectroscopy, and Photochemistry.

Miles D. Koppang, Ph.D., University of North Dakota. Specialization: Analytical Chemistry, Electrochemistry as Applied to Bioanalysis, Electron-Transfer Mechanism at Electrodes, and Chemical Education.

P. Stanley May, Ph.D., University of Virginia. Specialization: Physical Chemistry, Spectroscopy of Transition Metal and Lanthanide Ions in Solid State, Solid-State Energy Transfer Dynamics, and Multiple Photon Excitation.

Andrew G. Sykes, Ph.D., University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. Specialization: Inorganic Chemistry, Luminescent Sensors and X-ray Crystallography.

Associate Professors:

David C. Hawkinson, Ph.D., Northern Illinois University. Specialization: Physical Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry.

James D. Hoefelmeyer, Ph.D., Texas A&M University. Specialization: Inorganic Chemistry.

Ranjit T. Koodali, Ph.D., Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Chennai. Specialization: Physical Chemistry, Mesoporous materials and their applications in environmental remediation and conversion and storage of solar energy.

Grigoriy A. Sereda, Ph.D., Moscow State University. Specialization: Organic Chemistry, Synthesis of Biomedically Relevant Compounds, Catalysis, Photocatalysis, Controlled Modification of Fluorescent Nanocrystals with Organic Functionalities.

Joseph E. Vitt, Ph.D., Iowa State University. Specialization: Analytical Chemistry, Electroanalysis, Analysis of Electrochemical Oscillating Reactions, and Oxidation Mechanisms by Oxygen-Atom Transfer at Electrode Surfaces.

Assistant Professors:

Chaoyang Jiang, Ph.D., Nanjing University. Specialization: Analytical Chemistry and Materials Chemistry. Layer-by-Layer nanocomposite, Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering, Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy, Plasmonic Nanomaterials.

Dmitri Kilin, Ph.D., Chemitz University of Technology. Specialization: Physical Chemistry, Computational Chemistry.

Haoran Sun, Ph.D., Jilin University. Specialization: Organic Chemistry, Fluorinated materials for energy conversion and drug development.

Z. Rick Wang, Ph. D., University of South Florida (Tampa). Specialization: Inorganic Chemistry, general chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, materials chemistry.

Degrees:

Master of Science, thesis option only
Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Chemistry

Program Description

While the thirteen research faculty span the major sub-disciplines of chemistry (analytical, inorganic, organic and physical), their work is focused on: (1) nanomaterials for catalysis, energy storage, environmental remediation, luminescent up-conversion, plasmonics, sensors, and solar energy conversion, (2) metalorganic chemistry for luminescent sensors and catalysis, (3) organic synthesis for photovoltaic and drug delivery applications, and chemical reaction mechanisms (4) computational chemistry and molecular spectroscopy, (5) electro and photoelectrochemistry, and (6) bio-polymers and bio-medical devices. The department offers a Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry as well as a Master of Science in Chemistry. Graduate students may begin their program at the start of either the fall or the spring semester. Completion of requirements for the M.S. degree in Chemistry generally takes two years for students who enter with the equivalent of an ACS approved B.S. in Chemistry. There is a substantial research component to the program culminating in oral defense of a thesis whose basis is an original contribution to the discipline. The Ph.D. Materials Chemistry is designed to allow students to complete both masters and doctoral requirements within six years.

Admission Requirements

Completion of a baccalaureate degree in Chemistry and satisfaction of additional requirements may be stipulated to provide a course background equivalent to that of an American Chemical Society (ACS) approved major.
Undergraduate GPA of at least 2.7 or a graduate GPA of at least 3.0.
The GRE General test is required for International students only. A score of 147 (40%) on GRE Quantitative Reasoning is the minimum standard. The minimum standard for the GRE Verbal is 134. The score is considered along with the other application materials. International Students are also required to submit a TOEFL/IELTS score. A minimum score of 79 in the internet based (iBT) TOEFL exam, 213 in the computer based test (cBT) or 550 in the paper based test (pBT) TOEFL exam is required for the application to be considered for admission. A minimum band score of 6.0 is required for the IELTS.

- Subject to faculty approval, those who do not meet all of the criteria above may be admitted on a provisional basis.