Cum Laude Honors
To earn cum laude honors in Chemistry or in Biochemistry, a student must satisfy one of the following criteria:
- An overall GPA of 3.2 or better and a chemistry GPA of 3.5 or better; or
- An overall GPA of 3.2, a chemistry GPA of 3.2 or better, and six hours of CHEM 4880 Directed Research, spread over a minimum of two semesters.
Magna Cum Laude (High) Honors or Summa Cum Laude (Highest) Honors
To earn magna cum laude or summa cum laude honors in Chemistry or Biochemistry, a student must satisfy each of the following criteria:
- An overall GPA of 3.2 or better;
- A chemistry GPA of 3.5 or better;
- Six hours of CHEM 4880 Directed Research, spread over a minimum of two semesters with a GPA of 3.2 or better;
- Presentation and approval of a thesis based on the independant study research to faculty advisory committee. If the thesis is approved, the faculty committee can recommend graduation at either the magna cum laude (high) or summa cum laude (highest) level.
Guidelines for Thesis
The advisory committee is to include three faculty from the University including at least one faculty member from Chemistry and at least one faculty member from outside the department. If the PI is chemistry department faculty the PI is the chair of the committee. If the PI is faculty in another department the student needs to recruit a Chemistry faculty member who has familiarity with the research topic to serve as committee chair. The student should have the committee members in place during the first month of the semester in which the student plans to graduate.
The committee chairperson by agreeing to serve validates that the presented research has been performed by the student.
The thesis is written using the primary journal style of the research sub-specialty. The student gives committee members the finished thesis two weeks prior to the thesis presentation unless the student has been otherwise informed by the committee members. The student organizes the time and place of examination. The last date to schedule the oral examination of the thesis is the Friday before the last week of the regular semester. This gives the student two weeks to make corrections and changes specified by the committee. The last day to turn in a completed and signed off thesis is the Friday of finals week at 4 pm. The committee signs the Thesis Examination Form, gives a copy to departmental advisor along with a copy of the thesis.