Master of Science in Chemistry
Sacred Heart University’s Graduate Chemistry program includes a number of graduates with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry who are working in the region and aspire to an advanced degree in chemistry. The program is also composed of science graduates with a BS degree in other fields of science who are shifting career interests and want to obtain a degree in chemistry. Enrollment in this program allows these students to use their science background to obtain an advanced degree in chemistry without first obtaining a BS in Chemistry. This approach allows students to obtain a higher degree in the same time frame that it would have taken them to obtain just a BS in Chemistry. Local chemical industry scientists participate in the teaching of graduate courses. Students who opt to do research are allowed, if and when possible, to pursue their projects at their place of employment with joint supervision of their employer and University faculty. This allows students to work on relevant projects that interest them while at the same time increasing collaboration between the University and local industries.
Goals and Objectives
The Master of Science in Chemistry program builds on the strength of the University’s undergraduate Chemistry program. The program meets the needs of students and the chemical industry by offering a unique opportunity for career and personal advancement to employees of the local chemical industry, while serving the industry to employ and recruit better-qualified chemists. In order to serve part-time as well as full-time students, many graduate courses are offered in the evenings. This, together with the University’s ideal location, allows chemical industry employees to continue their study on a part-time basis while working full-time and thus take advantage of tuition reimbursement programs offered by their employers.
Courseloads
Both full-time and part-time graduate students are enrolled in the program. Full-time students must enroll in 9 credit hours per semester. This allows them to finish the degree requirements in two years. Part-time students are expected to enroll in 3 to 6 credit hours per semester. This allows them to finish the degree requirements in three years or less. The department normally offers two graduate courses in the summer to expedite students’ need to complete their degrees in a timely manner.
Student Transfer Credit Policy
Transfer credits are granted for appropriate graduate-level courses with a grade of B or better, taken at other regionally accredited institutions. Students, however, must complete at least 70 percent of the required credits including the thesis (when applicable) at Sacred Heart University, plus pass the comprehensive exam, in order to obtain an MS degree in Chemistry.
Admission Requirements
Admission to the program is in January and September of each year. Full-time students are expected to finish the degree requirements in four semesters. Part-time students may require at least three years. The University’s graduate admission policy is observed when admitting students to the program. Applicants with a BS degree in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering are accepted based on their undergraduate performance in chemistry and other supporting subjects. Applicants with a BS degree in other areas of science and mathematics are admitted after completing the appropriate courses in chemistry in order to meet individual graduate course prerequisites.
Students who have obtained their BSc in Chemistry from a university/college outside of the United States (i.e., international students) and students who have a non-chemistry BSc from a U.S. school are required to take an ACS standardized test in general chemistry and organic chemistry before registering for classes. Students who do not perform satisfactorily on the exam will be required to take undergraduate course(s) in general and/or organic chemistry.
Degree Requirements
The tracks of study leading to an MS degree in Chemistry are:
- MS in Chemistry, Thesis Option
- MS in Chemistry, Non-Thesis Option
- MS in Molecular Biochemistry, Non-Thesis Option
- MS in Chem-Bioinformatics, Non-Thesis Option—interdisciplinary chemistry and computer science
MS in Chemistry, Thesis Option
Thirty (30) semester hours of approved graduate credits must be completed for the degree with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0. Students must complete a 12-credit core plus a thesis. (6 cr’s) and 12 credit electives.
Required Courses
| CH 521 | Advanced Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| or | |
| CH 522 | Organic Synthesis | 3 |
| | |
| CH 531 | Advanced Physical Chemistry I: Molecular Structure | 3 |
| | |
| CH 551 | Advanced Analytical Instrumentation: Spectroscopy | 3 |
| or | |
| CH 552 | Advanced Analytical Chem: Chromatography | 3 |
| | |
| CH 553 | Advanced Inorganic Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 599 | Thesis | 1-6 |
MS in Chemistry, Non-Thesis Option
Thirty-four (34) semester hours of approved graduate credits must be completed for the degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0. Students must complete 13 credits of core plus 21 elective credits.
Required Courses
| CH 521 | Advanced Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| or | |
| CH 522 | Organic Synthesis | 3 |
| | |
| CH 531 | Advanced Physical Chemistry I: Molecular Structure | 3 |
| | |
| CH 551 | Advanced Analytical Instrumentation: Spectroscopy | 3 |
| or | |
| CH 552 | Advanced Analytical Chem: Chromatography | 3 |
| | |
| CH 553 | Advanced Inorganic Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 598 | Comprehensive Exam Chemistry | 1 |
MS in Molecular Biochemistry, Non-Thesis Option
Thirty-four (34) semester hours of approved graduate credits must be completed for the degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0. Students must complete 16 credits of core courses plus 18 elective credits.
Required Courses
| CH 521 | Advanced Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| or | |
| CH 522 | Organic Synthesis | 3 |
| CH 533 | Biophysical Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 553 | Advanced Inorganic Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 563 | Biochemical Analysis | 3 |
| CH 597 | Molecular Modeling and Drug Design | 3 |
| CH 598 | Comprehensive Exam Chemistry | 1 |
MS in Chem-Bioinformatics, Non-Thesis Option
Thirty-six (36) semester hours of approved graduate credits must be completed for the degree with a minimum GPA of 3.0. Students must complete 22 credits of core courses plus 14 elective credits. CS 504 Introduction to Programming Using Scripting (3 credits), or equivalent, is an additional program requirement.
Required Courses
| CH 521 | Advanced Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| or | |
| CH 522 | Organic Synthesis | 3 |
| | |
| CH 531 | Advanced Physical Chemistry I: Molecular Structure | 3 |
| or | |
| CH 533 | Biophysical Chemistry | 3 |
| | |
| CH 545 | Bioinformatics | 3 |
| CH 553 | Advanced Inorganic Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 590 | Chemical Information: Sources & Technology | 3 |
| CH 598 | Comprehensive Exam Chemistry | 1 |
| CS 603 | Database Design (Oracle) | 3 |
| CS 616 | Machine Learning | 3 |
Note: Students electing the non-thesis options are required to pass a comprehensive exam. Students are required to take electives from graduate-level courses in chemistry and no more than six credits of other approved courses in other related areas of science, mathematics, physics, biology, and computer science.
Elective Courses (for all four tracks)
| CH 524 | Special Topics in Organic Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 525 | Supramolecular Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 526 | Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacology | 3 |
| CH 529 | NMR Spectroscopy | 3 |
| CH 533 | Biophysical Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 534NMR/534L | Organic Structure Determination Lab | 3 |
| CH 545 | Bioinformatics | 3 |
| CH 547 | Computational Chemistry & Molecular Model | 3 |
| CH 549 | Special Topics in Biochemistry | 3 |
| CH 554 | Special Topics: Analytical Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 556 | Chemical Applications of Group Theory | 3 |
| CH 559 | Special Topics: Inorganic Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 561 | Advanced Environmental Chemistry | 3 |
| CH 590 | Chemical Information: Sources & Technology | 3 |
| CH 597 | Molecular Modeling and Drug Design | 3 |
| Special Topics | 3 |
| CS 348 | Programming in Unix | 3 |
| CS 550 | Dynamic Webpage Development | 3 |
| CS 551 | Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Java | 3 |
| CS 615 | Programming in Unix | 3 |