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General Information

The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology offers a program of study leading to the degree of doctor of philosophy in chem­istry, in the special fields of biological, inor­ganic, organic, and physical chemistry. A PhD program in chemical physics is also available.

The entering graduate student at Harvard joins an active research center as a co-worker at the start of or during the student’s second term. The Department’s faculty and its affili­ated student scientists share a rich training in the unique tools of chemical inquiry and commitment to scientific investigation at the molecular level. Doctoral research, based on the student’s own interests and those of the chosen faculty supervisor, is concerned with problems of intrinsic interest and impor­tance at the frontiers of chemical science. The student joins a community composed of about 180 graduate students, 150 postdoctoral fellows, and 34 faculty members.

Regular seminars are held by most faculty members for their research groups. The exchange of views, the solution of problems, and the discussion of recent developments have made this setting an important compo­nent of the graduate program. Colloquia in special fields of chemistry and frequent lectures by visiting chemists are continual catalysts for creative research. Considerable opportunity exists for interaction with other departments and groups inside Harvard University, at MIT, and at other research centers in the Boston area.

Departmental research facilities are located in six buildings on the historic main Harvard campus: Mallinckrodt, Conant, Converse, Naito, Bauer, and the Mallinckrodt/ Hoffman “Link.” These laboratories are adja­cent to the Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Physics, Earth and Planetary Sciences, the Centers for Systems Biology and Brain Science, and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Also nearby is the Science Center, housing Mathematics, Statistics, and History of Science, but devoted primarily to undergraduate teaching facilities. In addition to the faculty research labs, the Chemistry and Chemical Biology complex contains facili­ties for analytical instrumentation (NMR, X-ray Crystallography, X-ray Diffractometry), a library, and computer workstations for molecular modeling and chemical information retrieval. A machine shop, electronics shop, and facilities for mass spectrometry, protein structure determination, materials synthesis, nanofabrication, and imaging are available in adjacent departments. Nearly all CCB faculty are affiliated with multiple cross-departmental programs and research centers at Harvard. 

Admission

Applications for admission to study for the PhD degree in chemistry are accepted from students who have received the bachelor’s degree or have had equivalent preparation. These applications should be initiated during the fall of the year preceding the September when admission is desired. Normally, students are admitted only for September. The Depart­ment of Chemistry and Chemical Biology admits students with a record of classroom and laboratory training in biological, organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry. We expect students to possess a strong enough grounding in chemistry to perform well on the required Chemistry GRE subject exam, and to be thoughtful enough about the discipline of chemistry to communicate their desire to pursue doctoral research in our department.

Applicants must take the GRE general and chemistry examinations. These must be taken no later than November of the year prior to admission and preferably earlier so that score reports arrive by the December applica­tion deadline. TOEFL is required of all foreign applicants other than those whose native language is English.

We encourage prospective students to submit their applications online whenever possible at https://apply.embark.com/grad/Harvard/GSAS. We also ask the student’s recommenders to submit their letters online whenever possible. The Department of Chem­istry and Chemical Biology is a participant in Harvard Integrated Life Sciences (HILS). 

Financial Support

The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology meets the financial needs of its graduate students through Department Schol­arships, Department Fellowships, Teaching Fellowships, Research Assistantships, and inde­pendent outside fellowships. Financial support is awarded on a 12-month basis, enabling students to pursue their research throughout the year. Tuition support is provided to all graduate students in good standing.

Generally, students in their first year are supported by a departmental fellowship that covers tuition and living expenses. Begin­ning in the second semester, all students are expected to teach for two semesters. Teaching fellowships are term-long jobs typically avail­able on a quarter-time or half-time basis. A quarter-time assignment involves about ten hours per week of preparation and instruction. With the research advisor’s concurrence, a student may teach in subsequent years.

Research assistantships provide an oppor­tunity for students to devote more time to research. The 12-month research assistant­ship is the major vehicle for student support within a research group. Research assistant­ships typically start in July after the student has completed the first year of the graduate program.

Independent fellowships are outside awards (e.g., NSF, NDSEG, Hertz Foun­dation) covering a significant portion of a student’s stipend and tuition throughout his or her tenure in the PhD program. Information on major graduate fellowships is available at www.gsas. harvard.edu/financial/fellowship. html, or can be obtained by writing to the respective agencies directly, or by inquiring at your college career counseling office. A limited number of corporate fellowships are available to meritorious students after the first year.

Departmental Requirements

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Although the curriculum for this degree includes certain requirements in formal coursework (see below), the majority of the graduate student’s time and energy will be devoted to original investigations in a chosen field of research. Students have many opportunities to learn about current research programs, prior to embarking upon research, both during rotations and through informal discussions with faculty and students. Students are strongly encouraged to enter a research group by the end of the second term of their first year, unless a deferral is granted on a term-by-term basis by the director of graduate studies. Once a student joins a research group, the faculty member of that group becomes the student’s advisor.

Qualifying Requirements. Students must pass four advanced half-courses in chemistry and/or related fields (e.g., biochemistry, physics, etc.) with average grades of B or higher. Grades of B- will count as a pass if balanced by a B+ or better on a one-for-one basis. An advanced course is one designated in the announcement of courses as “for undergraduates and gradu-ates” or “primarily for graduates” with the exception of the following courses that cannot be used for credit toward the PhD degree in Chemistry: Chemistry 135 and 165. Courses numbered 300 or above do not count toward this requirement.

All entering graduate students (G1s) are required to take “Chemistry 299hf. Scientific Teaching and Communication: Practicum” in their first year. This course will teach graduate students how to communicate scientific concepts in the classroom.

In addition to taking Chemistry 299hf, all first-year physical chemistry graduate students are required to take “Chemistry 300P. Physical Chemistry Seminar” in their first year.

During the orientation week students will formulate a plan of study in consultation with a member of the Curriculum Advising Committee (CAC). The CAC may withhold approval for courses deemed inappropriate for the PhD degree in Chemistry. It is expected that required coursework be completed no later than the end of the third term in resi­dence.

In consultation with the CAC, special arrangements may also be made in the following circumstances:

(a) Advanced courses passed with honor grades by a Harvard undergraduate, who is subsequently admitted to the Graduate School, may be counted in fulfillment of the departmental course requirement. They may be counted for residence requirements only if in excess of the courses required for the AB degree (see The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook).

(b) Students who have taken elsewhere the equivalent of a Harvard advanced course may, by arrangement with the Advisory Committee, meet the requirement with respect to that course without enrollment by fulfilling such requirements as the instructor in the course stipulates. (See The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Handbook, Credit for Work Done Elsewhere.)

Rotations. Entering graduate students (G1s) are required to participate in three 4-week rotations in different laboratories, OR they may conduct one 8-week and one 4-week rotation in two different laboratories. The goal of the rotations is to broaden a student’s scientific perspective by exposing him or her to the science and environment of different laboratories.

Advising. At the end of their first year, students are expected to constitute their Grad­uate Advising Committee (GAC) in accor­dance with GAC guidelines. The GAC meets yearly, beginning in the student’s second year of residence, to assess research progress and discuss future plans. Students are expected to present and defend an independent proposal anytime between the beginning of their second year and the end of their fourth year in the presence of the GAC (including their advisor). In addition, they will have meetings with the GAC in the first semester of their second year, and anytime in the third and fourth years. The independent proposal meeting will serve as one of the three required meetings for their G2, G3, and G4 years. Students may have a voluntary meeting in their G5 year and, if necessary, a mandatory meeting with their GAC in their G6 year. The objective of these meetings is to bring focus to the timely completion of the degree requirements, to foster (non-advisor) faculty-student interac­tions, and to provide career counseling. 

Oral Examinations. Students are expected to present and defend a research proposal anytime between the beginning of the second year and the end of the fourth year. The presentation will be before a faculty committee in accordance with the Graduate Advising Committee guidelines. Addition­ally, all students are expected to provide a public presentation of their Ph.D. research as part of their program requirements. The dissertation defense will be comprised of two parts: 1) a public presentation of the student’s Ph.D. research to which members of the CCB community will be invited, followed by 2) the private Ph.D. dissertation defense before the Dissertation Defense Committee (generally the GAC). 

Language. A thorough command of oral and written English is required. Incoming PhD students who are non-native speakers of English and who have not received their undergraduate degree from an English-speaking institution will have their English proficiency tested by the Institute of English Language (IEL). Students who are not deemed proficient will be required to take courses at the IEL to develop their English language skills as part of their preparation for teaching and their professional development. Students will not be allowed to teach until they are deemed proficient.

Teaching. Students are expected to teach in the spring term of their first year and one term of their second year based on teaching needs. With his or her advisor’s concurrence, a student may teach in subsequent years.

Continuance. Continuation in the degree program is contingent on the following: (1) satisfactory completion of required coursework, (2) successful presentation and defense of a research proposal in accordance with policy set by the Graduate Advising Committee (GAC), (3) admission to a research group during the second term in residence, unless extension of time has been approved by the director of graduate studies, and (4) satisfactory progress in 300-level research courses. 

Dissertation. The PhD dissertation is based on independent scholarly research, which, upon conclusion, is defended in an oral exami­nation before a PhD committee made up of the student’s advisor and at least two other readers. One of the readers must be a faculty member of the department of Chemistry & Chemical Biology (generally the advisor). Two members of the committee must be members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Faculty members from other schools at Harvard who hold appointments on GSAS degree commit­tees as well as FAS emeriti and research profes­sors may serve as members of the dissertation committee. Faculty of institutions outside of Harvard may serve as a member of the disser­tation committee providing the requirement of two readers from FAS (one being a CCB faculty member; generally the advisor) is met. The preparation of a satisfactory dissertation normally requires at least four years of full-time research. The student’s advisor decides when the work has progressed to a point justifying the presentation of a dissertation. The final manuscript must conform to the requirements described in The Form of the PhD Dissertation. 

Master of Arts (AM)

The Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology does not grant terminal AM degrees. Students are typically awarded the AM degree after one or two years in the doctoral program. The requirements for this degree are:

Residence. Minimum of one year of full-time study.

Program of Study. The student must pass with honor grades eight advanced half-courses diversified among the fields of chemistry. Typically, four of these half-courses are classroom work, and the remaining four are research courses. As many as four half-courses of the required eight may be taken outside the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, provided the Advisory Committee approves them. Students planning to take such courses should petition the Advisory Committee in advance of taking the courses in order to have them count for the AM degree.

Language. A thorough command of oral and written English is required. Incoming PhD students who are non-native speakers of English and who have not received their undergraduate degree from an English-speaking institution will have their English proficiency tested by the Institute of English Language (IEL). Students who are not deemed proficient will be required to take courses at the IEL to develop their English language skills as part of their preparation for teaching and their professional development.

Thesis: None required. 

Higher Degrees in Chemistry

Recent PhD Dissertations

Joanna Aizenberg, Gordon McKay Professor of Materials Science; Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 1996, Weizmann Insti­tute of Science. Biomimetic inorganic materials synthesis, self-assembly, crystal engineering, surface chemistry, nanofabrication, biomate­rials, biomechanics and biooptics.

James Anderson, Philip S. Weld Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry. PhD 1970, University of Colorado. Chemical reactivity of radical-radical and radical-molecule systems; chemical catalysis sustained by free radical chain reac­tions in the Earth’s stratosphere and tropo­sphere; mechanistic links between chemistry, radiation, and dynamics in the atmosphere that control climate; high-accuracy satel­lite observations for testing and systematic improvement of climate forecasts.

Alán Aspuru-Guzik, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 2004, University of California at Berkeley. Theoretical physical chemistry. Quantum computation and its application to chemistry problems. Development of electronic structure methods for atoms and molecules: density functional theory and quantum Monte Carlo. Theoretical understanding and design of renewable energy materials.

Theodore Betley, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 2005, California Institute of Technology. Synthetic inorganic chemistry targeting chemical energy conversion, structure and reactivity of polyme­tallic and organometallic compounds.

Adam Cohen, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics. PhD 2003, University of Cambridge; PhD 2007, Stanford University. Single-molecule spectros­copy and biophysics; Brownian motion and feedback control; electrokinetics, polymer physics, fluctuation-induced forces; nonequi­librium van der Waals/Casimir forces; instru­mentation.

Cynthia Friend, Theodore William Richards Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Materials Science. PhD 1981, University of California at Berkeley. Surface chemistry: heterogeneous catalysis, nanostructure growth, environmental chemistry, laser-assisted materials processing, heterogeneous chemistry relevant to origins of life, and chemical sensor technology.

Roy Gordon, Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Chemistry. PhD 1964, Harvard University. Intermolecular forces, transport processes and molecular motion; theory of crystal struc­tures and phase transitions, kinetics of crystal growth; solar energy, chemical vapor deposi­tion; synthesis of inorganic precursors to new materials; thin films and their applications to microelectronics and solar cells.

Eric Heller, Professor of Chemistry and Physics. PhD 1973, Harvard University. Few body quantum mechanics, scattering theory, and quantum chaos. Physics of semiconductor devices, ultracold molecular collisions, nonadi­abatic interactions in molecules and gasses.

Eric Jacobsen, Sheldon Emery Professor of Chemistry. PhD 1986, University of California at Berkeley. Mechanistic and synthetic organic chemistry. Development of new synthetic methods, with emphasis on asymmetric catalysis. Physical-organic studies of reactivity and recognition phenomena in homogeneous catalysis. Stereoselective synthesis of natural products.

Daniel Kahne, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology. PhD 1986, Columbia University. Synthetic organic chemistry and its applications to problems in chemistry and biology.

Charles Lieber, Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry. PhD 1985, Stanford University. Chemistry and physics of materials with an emphasis on nanoscale systems. Rational synthesis of new nanoscale building blocks and nanostructured solids; development of methodologies for hierarchical assembly of nanoscale building blocks into complex and functional systems; investigation of fundamental electronic, optical and optoelectronic properties of nanoscale materials; design and development of nanoelectronics and nano­photonic systems, with emphasis on electri­cally-based biological detection, digital and quantum computing, and photonic systems.

David R. Liu, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. PhD 1999, University of California at Berkeley. Organic chemistry and chemical biology of molecular evolution, nucleic acid-templated organic synthesis, reaction discovery, protein and nucleic acid evolution and engineering, synthetic polymer evolution; generally, effective molarity-based approaches to controlling reactivity and evolu­tion- based approaches to the discovery of functional synthetic and biological molecules.

Gavin MacBeath, Associate Professor of Chem­istry and Chemical Biology. PhD 1997, Scripps Research Institute. Systems biology; proteomics; and the development of protein microarray­based technology to reveal the function of complex biological systems. Efforts include functional proteomics, network-directed small molecule discovery, and quantitative protein profiling.

Andrew Myers, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 1985, Harvard Univer­sity. Synthesis and study of complex natural products; development of synthetic method­ology.

Erin O’Shea, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Director of the Center for Systems Biology. PhD 1992, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Systems level and molecular analysis of signaling pathways; transcriptional regulatory network architecture, function, and evolution; regulation and mechanism of oscil­lation of a circadian clock.

Hongkun Park, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics. PhD 1996, Stanford University. Physics and chemistry of nanostructured materials; the development of neuro-electronic interface; electron transport through individual molecules, nanowires, and nanotubes; single-molecule optoelectronics; synthesis and characterization of transition-metal-oxide and chalcogenide nanostructures; the interrogation of complex neural networks using optical and electronic techniques.

Tobias Ritter, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 2004, Eidgenös­sische Technische Hochschule Zürich. Synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry. Devel­opment of new synthetic methods based on transition metal catalysis, stereoselective synthesis of biologically active natural and unnatural products.

Alan Saghatelian, Assistant Professor of Chem­istry and Chemical Biology. PhD 2002, Scripps Research Institute. Development and applica­tion of global metabolite profiling (metabolo­mics) as a general discovery tool for chemical biology. Elucidation of molecules and meta­bolic pathways that control phenotype at the cellular and physiological level.

Stuart Schreiber, Morris Loeb Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. PhD 1981, Harvard University. Development of diversity-oriented synthesis, chemical genetics, and ChemBank; application to an under­standing of cell circuitry and disease biology.

Matthew Shair, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 1995, Columbia University. Synthesis of small molecules that have interesting biological functions and eluci­dation of their cellular mechanisms; develop­ment of organic synthesis.

Eugene Shakhnovich, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 1984, Moscow State University. Theoretical biomolecular science including protein folding, theory of molecular evolution, structural bioinformatics, rational drug design, populational genomics, other complex systems including complex polymers and spin glasses.

Gregory Verdine, Erving Professor of Chemistry. PhD 1986, Columbia University. Protein-nucleic acid interactions; transcriptional regulation; X-ray crystallography; structure and function of DNA-processing enzymes; discovery of novel ligands to peptide receptors.

George Whitesides, Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor. PhD 1946, Cali­fornia Institute of Technology. Physical organic chemistry, materials science, biophysics, complexity, surface science, microfluidics, self-assembly, micro- and nanotechnology, and cell-surface biochemistry.

Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. PhD 1990, University of California at San Diego. Single-molecule spec­troscopy and dynamics; molecular interaction and chemical dynamics in biological systems; live cell imaging.

Xiaowei Zhuang, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. PhD 1996, University of California at Berkeley. Investigating complex biological processes at the single-molecule level; live cell imaging; development of new techniques for single-molecule sensing and imaging.

Affiliate Faculty

Jon Clardy, Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology (Medical School). PhD 1969, Harvard. Discovery of biologi­cally active small molecules using DNA-based approaches or high-throughput screening and chemical analysis; protein structure and enzymology; functioning of small molecules as carriers of biological information; new biosyn­thetic pathways; new microbial biology.

Efthimios Kaxiras, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Physics (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences). PhD 1987, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Development of computational methodolo­gies for coupling spatial and temporal scales; optical and electronic properties for nucleic acids, melanin, flavonoids; structure and prop­erties of carbon and other nanotubes, surface nanowires and nanodots, graphene nanoflakes; effect of chemical impurities on the large-scale mechanical behavior of solids.

Suzanne Walker, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics (Medical School). PhD 1992, Princeton. Chemical biology applied to microbial systems; enzymology; mechanism of action of antibiotics.

Christopher Walsh, Hamilton Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Phar­macology (Medical School). PhD 1970, Rock­efeller University. Molecular basis of biological catalysis, with focus on the structure and func­tion of enzymes; biosynthesis and mechanism of action of antibiotics and bacterial sidero­phores.