Guidelines for PhD PoW

• Advisory Committee: You need at least three committee members, other than the chair, to form a committee of at least four members. Contact them and obtain their agreement to serve prior to starting your PoW. One of your committee members can be from another department. If that’s the case then he/she will appear as a committee member but may also fulfill the role of the Graduate School Representative (GSR). SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: If you declare a minor, you will have a minor representative – a faculty member from your minor department who will serve on your committee and will also fulfill the role of Graduate School Representative. If you dual major, then you will have a co-chair representing your second major. You may also include a co-chair in a case where you are doing a project that heavily involves two faculty members in Chemistry, or one in Chemistry and one from another department, to the extent that they’ll both need to be listed as chairs. However, faculty from your major department CANNOT serve as Graduate School Representatives and co-chairs cannot serve as GSRs. The special circumstances should all be cleared with the DGP prior to starting the PoW.
• Graduate School Representative (GSR): The GSR remains on your committee from the Preliminary through the Final. It is a great help to the Graduate School if the student identifies their own representative. If you are unable to identify a GSR for your committee or any one of your committee members is NOT from a department outside of Chemistry who is eligible to serve as GSR, the Graduate School will appoint a representative. If, for whatever reason, you end up without a GSR by the time you schedule a final defense, notify the Chemistry Graduate Office immediately.
• You need at least 72 semester hours of coursework (or 54 semester hours if you have a previous MS from a school other than NC State). After graded courses, you should use CH 895 each semester until your total credits reach 72 or more. Remember, you are creating a plan of work meaning that it should include courses taken and those you plan to take. If you have an MS from NC State and there is no break between the MS and PhD, you may use up to 36 credits from that degree, if approved by the DGP and your advisor, but the total must still add to 72 semester hours.  If you have an MS from NC State that was awarded before a break between the MS and PhD, or your MS is from another school, you may use only up to 18 credits from that degree if approved by the DGP and your advisor, but the total must still add to 72 or more semester hours.
• Include CH 610 if you took it and got an S. If you did not, do not include the course.
• Include semesters of CH 801; the department requires you to register for CH 801 until your 9th semester if you only have a BS/BA, or until your 7th semester if you have a previous MS.  You need a grade of S for it to count. If you received a grade of U, do not include on your PoW. A minimum of 2 semesters of CH 801 must appear on your PoW
• Include at least 6 graded courses (unless you have a prior MS and your advisor and the DGP have waived some or all graded courses).
• Include five semesters of CH 810 00X, in semesters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Enroll in this course as a 2 credit hour course. This division seminar course was previously numbered CH 795 00X until Fall 2020. Include it as CH 795 00X if taken as that course.
• Complete the remaining credits with CH 895 research credits and/or CH 899 dissertation credits. Do NOT include CH 896, or 400 level courses.* The minimum total is 72 (or 54 if you have a previous MS or 36 if your MS is from NC State without a break).

*Exception: If you completed an MS at NC State and apply up to 36 credit hours from that degree to the PhD PoW, only in this case will the Graduate School allow you to include any 400-level courses taken as part of the approved MS PoW.