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College of Sciences
Department of Chemistry

Support

Graduate students in the Department of Chemistry have a number of opportunities to defray the costs of their education through graduate appointments (employment) and fellowships.

Teaching Assistantships

All admitted and full-time matriculating graduate students in chemistry receive a teaching assistantship (TA) for the first year in residence. The TA consists of an annual stipend, health insurance and a tuition benefit. TAs typically serve in undergraduate lab sections of General Chemistry or Organic Chemistry for approximately 20 hours per week, including preparation and grading. TAs play a critical role in the department’s innovative efforts to continually improve undergraduate instruction.

A TA appointment is contingent on maintaining good academic standing (a 3.0 GPA or better). The department will continue supporting students on TAs as long as they are still considered eligible for the Graduate Student Support Plan (GSSP). Thereafter, TA support may be available on an individual case-by-case basis if funding allows.

Beyond the first year, students may receive financial support in the form of teaching assistantships, fellowships or research assistantships provided by individual faculty research grants.

Research Assistantships

A research assistantship (RA) is generally available after the second semester of graduate school, depending on the availability of funds and an individual faculty member’s policies. The RA consists of an annual stipend, health insurance and a tuition benefit.

These assistantships provide the graduate student an opportunity to concentrate full time on research. Students on RAs are supported by a grant or contract generally obtained or administered by the faculty adviser. The conditions dictating funding within individual grants and contracts varies, so the length of support and amount differs greatly. Students receiving RAs should consult with advisers to determine the specific conditions of the RA. If a base RA does not meet the funding amounts of the current TA rate, the department will construct an appropriate split RA/TA award as long as the student maintains GSSP eligibility requirements. The Director of Graduate Programs (DGP) will determine TA duties, if any, based on the details of the award and in consultation with the student’s faculty adviser.

Fellowships

When funding permits, the Department of Chemistry offers specific graduate research fellowships, such as the Burroughs Wellcome Fellowship for a student in Synthetic Organic Chemistry and the Glaxo Fellowship for a student in the pharmaceutical sciences. Additional industry-supported fellowships may become available from various corporations in North Carolina. In addition, the university offers numerous fellowships, and students may also apply for competitive national fellowships; see The Graduate School and external sources.

A fellowship may come with specific terms and conditions, but the award typically goes directly to a student. Students who receive fellowships also receive a written description of the award with detailed terms and conditions. If the fellowship does not offer at least the same support TA does, the department will construct an appropriate split fellowship/TA award as long as the student maintains GSSP eligibility requirements. The Director of Graduate Programs (DGP) will determine TA duties, if any, based on the details of the award.

  • GSK Fellowship
    • 1x awardee/year; $26,000 12-month stipend
  • Burroughs Wellcome Fellowship
    • 1x awardee/year; Organic Chemistry; $26,000 12-month stipend
  • Kenan Fellowship in Chemistry
    • 1x awardee/year; $13,000 6-month stipend
  • Charlie Moreland Graduate Merit Award
    • 2x 1st year graduate student recipients/year; $2,000 ‘bonus’ per year for up to three years
  • BASF Fellowship in Chemistry
    • 2x recipients/year; $2,250 ‘bonus’ per year

NIH/NC State Molecular Biotechnology Training Program

The NIH/NCSU Molecular Biotechnology Training Program (MBTP) for graduate students was established with the goal of enhancing students’ research and training in Molecular Biotechnology beyond the exposure provided by their doctoral programs. To participate, students apply to and enroll in existing Ph.D. programs at NC State. While any Ph.D. candidate is eligible to participate in the Molecular Biotechnology Training Program (or elements of it), only students who select one of the 40 Training Grant faculty as their major advisor are eligible to receive Traineeship support. MBTP Traineeships are made possible through funding from an NIH Training Grant along with matching funds from NC State. Normally, students will participate in the second and third years of their Ph.D. program, but first year students can also be considered. Chemistry faculty who are eligible to receive Traineeship support include Erin Baker, Reza Ghiladi, David Muddiman, Joshua Pierce, and Gavin Williams.

Travel Support

Graduate students are required to give a research presentation at a well-recognized, discipline-specific national or regional meeting before the end of their eighth semester. The department will provide a one-time reimbursement of up to $500 for travel expenses. Faculty often have funding to support additional travel and conference attendance during your graduate study. In addition, we offer four competitive travel awards to chemistry graduates each year.

  • Gilbert Travel Award & Departmental Graduate Travel Awards
    • four recipients/year; $2,000 for conference travel

The Graduate School also offers several travel awards for which our chemistry graduates compete.

  • GSA Graduate Award for Conference; $1,500
  • GSA Travel Assistance Award; $500

NIH Chemistry of Life Training Program (CLTP)

The central goal of this graduate training program is to produce a cadre of chemists who have also received significant training in the life sciences and of life scientists who have also received significant training in chemistry, without sacrificing in-depth training in their core discipline. Through these efforts we are preparing the next generation of scientists fluent in Chemistry across the Life Sciences. The program offers appealing features and students will receive their Ph.D. degree from their primary graduate program, but will receive a minor/certificate upon completion of this training program.

Chemistry faculty who are eligible to receive Traineeship support include Erin Baker, Wei-chen Chang, Reza Ghiladi, Vincent Lindsay, Jonathan Lindsey, David Muddiman, Alex Nevzorov, Jun Ohata, Joshua Pierce, Caroline Proulx, Alex Smirnov, Leslie Sombers, Thomas Theis, and Gavin Williams.

NIH Comparative Medicine and Translational Research Training Program (CMTRTP)

The NIH T32 funded the NC State Comparative Medicine and Translational Research Training Program (CMTRTP), established by the faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and the Comparative Medicine Institute (CMI) at North Carolina State University, offers fellowships to provide post-graduate (DVM) research opportunities for veterinary specialists in well-funded laboratories that will lead to a doctoral degree (PhD).  The training program emphasizes comparative and translational research and provides experience in multidisciplinary research programs designed to prepare trainees for an early career development award and a rapid transition to independence in a research-intensive career, with a priority on developing fellows for faculty positions in academia.

Eligible applicants will have completed their DVM and specialty residency training either at NC State or another college of veterinary medicine. Excellent academic credentials, prior research experience, and outstanding letters of recommendation emphasizing the potential for the applicant to become a productive, impactful clinician scientist are expected. CMTRTP fellows will be enrolled in the Comparative Biomedical Sciences (CBS) graduate program for the PhD. CBS is an umbrella graduate program consisting of seven concentration areas (Cell Biology, Neurosciences, Immunology, Pathology, Infectious Diseases, Population Medicine and Epidemiology, and Pharmacology). The CBS program has defined curricula for each concentration area with a number of electives available to all CBS students and allows students to take elective courses available in other graduate programs.

Visit the CMTRTP page for more information on features, eligible faculty, application process and eligibility requirements.