American University of Beirut

The MS program in the Department of Chemistry is dedicated to advancing scientific knowledge through rigorous education and cutting-edge research. The MS program’s mission is to prepare graduate students to become skilled and creative scientists capable of addressing complex challenges in academia and industry. Through a combination of foundational coursework in different chemistry disciplines and independent research, the program enables students to communicate findings through presentations in scientific meetings and through publications.

The department offers the MS degree in chemistry. Graduate students may specialize in analytical, inorganic, organic or physical chemistry. Of the minimum 21 graduate course credits required for the MS degree, a minimum of 6 credits must be graduate courses in the concentration field of chemistry, and 6 credits must be graduate courses in chemistry outside the students’ field of specialization. CHEM 361 is a requirement for all graduate students. A 9-credit thesis, CHEM 399, is required.

The doctoral program in the Department of Chemistry provides graduate students with scientific knowledge, training and skills to eventually develop their own research work thus becoming independent teachers and scholars or joining renowned industrial firms. This will be met through providing students with the essential theoretical background within different chemistry disciplines, and the practical foundation to conduct experimental and theoretical research. In addition, the program will enable students to communicate findings through presentations in scientific meetings and through publications.

The central goals of the PhD program in chemistry are: excellence in research with strong chemistry background. In addition, the program realizes the importance of the practice of teaching and thus requires graduate students to engage in work as teaching assistants of undergraduate courses.

These goals will be achieved via providing students with a strong background to pursue postdoctoral research position, a career in teaching science, or work in various industries. The faculty is dedicated to shaping young scientists with inquisitive minds, and responsible characters. Scientists, who will, with all the practical and intellectual tools and powers they have, always seek to know things anew and serve the truth.

Chemistry Ph.D. graduates will be able to:

Students entering the program are expected to demonstrate the ability to develop into independent scientists by several measures:  

Admission to the PhD program, upon recommendations of the department and the FAS Graduate Studies Committee, will require approval of the faculty dean. Applications received by the university Office of Admissions are first reviewed by the Chemistry Graduate Committee (CGC). This committee consists of the chairperson of the department and four full-time faculty members from the four chemistry divisions. Recommendations for admission into the program are then transmitted to the FAS GSC.

After admission into the department, the CGC assigns a general advisor (CGA) to PhD students to guide them with the initial selection of courses and to introduce them to the various research areas in the department. Students will have to select a thesis advisor by the end of the first term after admission to the program. Students must seek the faculty members that are in the students’ area of interest and discuss with them possible research topics for the PhD thesis.

The number of credits for the PhD program is 48 credits. The course of study includes 18 credits of graduate level courses beyond the requirements of the MS degree, a 0-credit comprehensive examination (Qualifying Exam Part I – CHEM 480), a 0-credit defense of the thesis proposal (CHEM 481), and a 30-credit PhD thesis (CHEM 484).

The graduate level courses beyond the requirements of the MS degree are divided as follows:

The comprehensive exam (CHEM 480) is a written exam taken after completing a minimum of 15 credits of course requirements. Timing of the examination is set by the department/program no later than the fourth term of the PhD students’ enrollment in the PhD program. A student who does not pass the comprehensive exam may take it a second time in the following term. Students who are unable to pass a program’s comprehensive exam twice are dropped from the PhD program.

The defense of the thesis proposal (CHEM 481) is taken at least two terms prior to the thesis defense and is conducted by the student Thesis Committee.

Once a thesis advisor is identified, the student will develop a proposed program of study that lists the courses that the student intends to take, in addition to the proposed dates for the written and oral doctoral qualifying examinations. The proposed program of study must then be submitted to the CGC for approval. 

The Doctoral Thesis Committee includes the primary adviser(s), other chemistry faculty members, and expert(s) of professorial rank from outside the department, faculty or other institutions of higher learning in Lebanon or abroad. The committee must have at least five members. The doctoral committee is usually chaired by the thesis adviser. The chair of the thesis committee must be a full professor who is not the PhD thesis adviser (requirement of the Lebanese Ministry of Higher Education). At least one of the committee members must be from outside the Department of Chemistry (i.e. geology, computer science, physics, biology, or other related department, etc.). Candidates may also invite qualified people from outside the AUB faculty to serve as additional members of their committee. An external examiner of high standing from abroad is nominated by the chair of the department in consultation with the thesis adviser, subject to approval of the GSC, to review the thesis before the defense and send comments to the thesis committee on the scholarly level of the work. The external examiner may choose to attend the thesis defense and participate in the deliberations. The doctoral thesis committee approves the thesis topic, research plan, conducts the thesis proposal defense and conducts the thesis defense. The PhD thesis topic, examining committee, and admission to candidacy require Graduate Council approval.

Students can graduate at the end of any academic term provided they have satisfied the program requirements:

The research interests of the chemistry faculty include synthetic heterocyclic chemistry, synthesis of biomaterials for drug delivery and synthesis of carbocyclic DNA analogs; reactive intermediates; cage compounds; coordination and organometallic chemistry; supramolecular chemistry; photocatalysis; photo-electrochemistry of semiconductors; synthesis, assembly and physical properties of nanostructured materials; surface chemistry; irreversible nonequilibrium thermodynamics and statistical mechanics; nonlinear dynamics in chemistry; generalized hydrodynamics; chemical waves; patterns and fractals in precipitate and metal electro-deposition systems; laboratory and field investigations of atmospheric chemistry processes; design and synthesis of dyes for dye sensitized solar cells; self-assembled mono-layers (SAMs) of bioactive material and poly-peptides on metal surfaces; study of electronic structure of unsaturated transition metal complexes and their reactions; discotic liquid crystals; synthesis of electron-deficient materials for organic electronics and opto-electronics applications; organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs); organic field effect transistors (OFETs); organic solar cells; molecular recognition; solid-state stacking of organic materials; biocatalysis; control of inorganic phase growth; developing new probe molecules based on nanocapsules, nanocrystals, curcumin and PAHs for physical and biophysical studies; fluorescence sensing and spectroscopic investigation on multi-component analysis and biosensor development; fluorescence spectroscopy, imaging and applications; hybrid solid materials; luminescence, solid surface room temperature phosphorescence (SS-RTP) and diffuse reflectance spectrometry (DRS); monitoring of organic and inorganic pollutants in industrial effluent under rigorous conditions; nanoscopy and single molecule studies in physical and biophysical chemistry; new methods for depollution of water contaminated by organic pollutants; photophysical and biophysical chemistry; probe chemistry; use of the reductive properties of Zero Valent Iron for the degradation of pesticides and chlorinated organic compounds in water; renewable energy, biosensing and photochemistry at the single molecule level, reticular chemistry (e.g. MOFs, COFs, ZIFs) and applications, hyperpolarization in magnetic resonance by SABRE (Signal Amplification By Reversible Exchange), developing new bio probes for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), advanced NMR technique for real-time reaction monitoring, NMR spectroscopy as a tool for environmental and industrial applications.