The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMBC offers a world-class Ph.D. program in Chemistry. There are 19 Faculty directing state-of-the-art research, in collaboration with 50 graduate students and 15 postdoctoral fellows and research scientists. We are large enough to have cutting-edge internationally recognized research programs as well as outstanding facilities, yet we are sufficiently small so that faculty and students know each other well. Faculty research interests consist of traditional and emerging areas of chemistry and biochemistry and include inorganic and organic synthesis, drug design and delivery, quantum dot fabrication, nanomaterial reactivity, fluorescence and photoacoustic imaging probes and sensors, single-molecule spectroscopy, photochemistry and ultrafast spectroscopy, bioinorganic chemistry, computational chemistry, structural biology, cell biochemistry, microfluidics, 3D bio-printing, and solar energy conversion.

Extensive infrastructure is available for innovative graduate student research, which includes state-of-art NMR, mass spectrometry, optical and electron imaging, as well as computational facilities. Our Faculty, together with affiliated programs, such as the Meyerhoff Graduate Program and the Chemistry-Biochemistry Interface Program, assure outstanding scientific and professional training for our students. We have established collaborations with several academic and government institutions, including UMB Medical and Pharmacy Schools, NIH, NIST, and ARL, that provide further opportunities to expand students’ expertise.

We offer financial packages to our Ph.D. students, which include; competitive stipends, health insurance, and complete tuition remission.

Our Department offers also an MS program in Chemistry, which is available in thesis and non-thesis options.

Graduate Degrees

Chemistry
The department offers both Ph.D. and M.S. programs in Chemistry which cover the traditional sub-disciplines of analytical, biochemical, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry. Students with an interest in biochemistry also have the option of the inter-departmental programs in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology and toxicology (below).

Biochemistry
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry offers a course of study leading to the Ph.D. in Biochemistry, in conjunction with faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (School of Medicine), as well as other faculty at UMB.

Molecular and Cell Biology
The Ph.D. program in Molecular and Cell Biology (MOCB) is a relatively new graduate program that has been instituted across three campuses of the University of Maryland. The MOCB program at UMBC is comprised of approximately 40 active research faculty members drawn from three UMBC departments (Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Biochemistry and Chemical and Biochemical Engineering) and scientists from the Center of Marine Biotechnology, and offers a truly interdisciplinary and state-of-the-art educational experience for those desiring advanced training in molecular and cellular biology.

Toxicology
The program in Toxicology draws on the resources of the University of Maryland’s College Park, Baltimore, Baltimore County and Eastern Shore campuses as well as the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory of the Center for Environmental and Estuarine Studies.

Facilities and Special Resources

UMBC students are offered hands-on access to an extensive array of tools for modern chemical and biochemical research. The department's specialized research instrumentation includes calorimetry, chromatography, stopped-flow and temperature-jump kinetics, transient laser spectroscopy (including nanosecond laser flash photolysis, pico-second and femto-second pump-probe and picosecond fluorescence systems), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (including one 200-, one 300-, one cryoprobe-equipped 500-, two 600- and one 800-MHz instruments), X-band CW electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometry, circular dichroism, X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, atomic absorption and gas chromatography mass spectrometry and both a 7 and 12 Tesla Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer apparatus, as well as extensive molecular modeling and computational chemistry facilities.

The department also hosts a Biochemistry Molecular Characterization and Analysis Complex (MCAC), which specializes in the analysis of environmental and biological molecules (e.g., biopolymers, peptides and glycoproteins). In addition to TOF/FT, a laser desorbtion mass spectrometer and both 500- and 600-MHz NMRs, this center houses one of the few tandem mass spectrometers located in academic institutions worldwide. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute suite houses a second 600- and an 800-MHz NMR instrument, both of which are used for high-dimensional studies of HIV proteins, metallo-biomolecules and macro-molecular interactions. The Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery contains more than 2,500 volumes of chemistry and biochemistry texts and subscribes to more than 150 chemistry and biochemistry periodicals.

Outplacement Success

Students completing the M.S. or Ph.D. degree programs at UMBC have continued their graduate or postdoctoral training at such competitive and prestigious institutions as Johns Hopkins Medical, MIT, Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Brandeis and Georgetown universities and have gone on to be faculty at prestigious universities across the country. Program graduates have also gone on to be leaders in the government and industrial workforce, finding employment with local, national and international organizations such as the U.S. D.o.D., NIH, the FDA, Ciba-Geigy, DuPont-Merck, Eastman Kodak, Glaxo Smith Kline, Proctor & Gamble, the U.S. Patent Office, etc.

ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS:

Most students entering Ph.D. or M.S. programs in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry are expected to have majored in chemistry, physics, biochemistry or the biological sciences; however, applications will be welcomed from students with degrees in other fields, provided their records indicate ability to complete the program successfully. The desired undergraduate background generally should include courses in organic and physical chemistry, physics, calculus and the biological sciences. GRE scores are not required. Foreign students must also pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with a score of 550 or better to be admitted into the UMGSB graduate programs.

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMBC is pleased to offer citizens and permanent residents of the United States and Canada, and those students receiving degrees from US and Canadian institutions, the opportunity to apply for admission to the PhD program in Chemistry, the PhD program in Biochemistry, and the MS program in Chemistry without charge.

To take advantage of the Fee-Free application offer you must be a US or Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of the US or Canada, or a graduate of a US or Canadian college or university. Applications by other individuals are welcomed and encouraged; however, those applicants are required to apply for admission through the formal application process, which requires payment of the application fee. (If your browser does not support forms, please contact the department by mail, telephone, fax, or email using the Graduate Student Request Information Form.)

FEE-FREE PROCESS, HOW IT WORKS:

Complete the Official UMBC Graduate School Application.We now offer an on-line waiver of the application fee for domestic applicants.  Domestic applicants to the Chemistry Ph.D. Program will have the application fee waived when the choice of Chemistry Ph.D. program is selected during the completion of the on-line application.  https://gradschool.umbc.edu/admissions/apply/

Review of applications will begin December 15. Fee-Free applications for admission to our programs for the Fall Semester must be received, along with all supporting documentation, by the Graduate Program Coordinator by March 1. The normal application fee will be required for all applications received after the March 1 deadline.

Financial Assistance

Support is available on a competitive basis to students accepted into the program. Qualified first-year students are usually offered teaching assistantships. Research assistantships are often available for students actively engaged in thesis research. In addition, students are encouraged to apply for nationally awarded graduate fellowships. Student loans are available through the Office of Financial Aid.

Fellowship Opportunities at the Interface of Chemistry and Biology

UMBC recently has authorized a limited number of fellowships for incoming graduate students who are interested in both the areas of chemistry and biology. These fellowships aim to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century, which will reward those who have expertise in more than one area of science. Even now, those scientists who can bridge the gap between biology and chemistry are in high demand in such areas as the pharmaceutical industry. Synthetic chemists who are knowledgeable about metabolism and biologists who understand the physical principles governing the interactions between macro-molecules are widely sought after.

Fellowship recipients will obtain their Ph.D. degree in an area of the chemical or the biological sciences, but with an additional focus in the other discipline. Each course of study will be individually tailored to take into account student's strengths and interests, but all will include coursework at an advanced level in the biological sciences and chemistry, as well as biochemistry. In addition, students will carry out research rotations in the laboratories of faculty members from both disciplines and will attend seminars from both departments.

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry has a brochure that describes its graduate programs and the research interests of its faculty. For a copy of the brochure, or for specific information on the M.S. and Ph.D. programs in chemistry, contact the department office, 866-743-8622. A frequently updated version of the brochure may be accessed via the UMBC homepage at www.umbc.edu/chem-biochem. The Graduate Student Handbook is also available from the department office.

Tuition fee-2 years$50,000

Total fee-2 years$80,000